AFC West: Khalil Mack “Raiders Defense best in division!”

Khalil Mack went bold claiming the Oakland Raiders defense can be as good as the defending Super Bowl Champions defense Denver Broncos.

According to an article written by NFL.com author Kevin Patra the star outside linebacker for the Raider made this claim Monday May 16, 2016.

The 2016 NFL draft was exciting this year for all fans for the first time in a while.

Every team made the correct decisions and improved immediately with their picks in the draft.

The AFC West may be a division that we can see rising along wth the AFC East.

Denver Broncos just won the Super Bowl with their defense ask quarterback Peyton Manning.

Kansas City Chiefs came close before losing to New England.

Oakland Raiders looked great on all cylinders even in Charles Woodson’s last year in the league and surprised multiple critics with their outstanding plays on both sides of the ball.

San Diego Chargers were in most games until the end, because their offensive line got injured early in the season last year.

They settled for last place in the division going home early, but there were bright spots on the team throughout the year. For example, the games they were close in and had a chance of winning were against teams that made the playoffs like the Packers and Broncos.

Therefore the next questions arise, who will come out on top of the AFC West, which is always a competitive and difficult division to win.

Will it be the defending champions Broncos, the Chiefs, Chargers who improved their defense drafting Joey Bosa out of Ohio State, or the Oakland Raiders who made some more great acquisitions on defense this off-season similar to the rams?

Well Khalil Mack has an opinion and says, “the Raiders defense can be as good as the Broncos defense or better.”

I agree with this because of the way general manager Reggie McKenzie has built this 2016 roster and continues to build the Raiders roster since 2014.

He is building the team similar to the way the Patriots and his former team the Packers build their teams.

After the the Seahawks won Super Bowl 48 in 2014 the Raiders signed MVP Malcolm Smith in the off-season to improve their linebacking core and drafted Mack in 2014 as well on defense.

On offense they drafted their franchise quarterback in Derek Carr, in 2015 they drafted Amari Cooper and signed receiver Michael Crabtree from free agency.

In the 2016 NFl draft they continued to build their roster to add depth on every side of the ball.

They dominated the Broncos offense in Denver winning that game and came close to winning in Oakland proving their defense can be as good as the Broncos.

With the decisions they made in this draft and their play from last year, they have a very high chance of being as good or even better than the Denvers defense.

They also drafted Karl Joseph out of West Virgnia to help their secondary, signed Reggie Nelson as well since Woodson left and they signed former Super Bowl Champion linebacker Bruce Irvin also to the defense.

He played with Malcolm Smith and will be playing with Mack.

They now have the next Big Three on the Raiders!

After seeing them dominate in games against their division, it is no question their defense can help them win their division and is as good as the Broncos.

In 2015 also Woodsons last season, the Raiders defensive backs improved by having former NFL great Rod Woodson join Jack Del Rios staff as the defensive backs coach along with Woodsons mentoring.

Rio has made th playoffs as a head coach with the Jaguars and a defensive coordinator with the Broncos.

He knows what it takes to build a complete team that will take you to the playoffs and win the championship.

They games were tightly contested last year.

For example the Steelers and Packers games came down to the wire in the last minutes of the game in the 4th quarter.

Next: Los Angeles Angels Lead 2-1 In Freeway Series

This is the 3rd year for Derek Carr and usually the third time is the charm, so they should make the post-season and contend for a title with the roster they have currently.