Best team in AFC West?

Excluding the Raiders (As I am inclined to say they are the best) , going into the 2012 season who is the best team in the AFC west?

The Broncos? - The Broncos won the division on a tie-breaker last year and now have this new quarterback called Peyton something.. The Broncos won most of their games last year due to Dennis Allen, their defense and Matt Prater. With the addition of Manning on offense most people will assume that Denver are now the best team in the AFC west. Along with Manning, Tracy Porter, Joel Dreessen and Jacob Tamme are just a few of the other free agents Denver brought in. However Denver had a quiet draft, even trading out of the first round and there is no one from their draft that stands out as an immediate starter. In addition the loss Brodrick Bunkley is massive, he was very important to the Broncos defense. Denver got lucky with Tebow last year. Had Kyle Ortan remained the starter the Broncos would have had a losing record and even with Manning I don't see Denver winning any more than 10 games this year.

The Chargers? - The Chargers had a late resurgence last year to finish 8-8 and spoiling the Raiders chances to win the division. The Chargers have a good team and many are saying that San Diego improved the most out of any team in free agency and the 2012 NFL draft. I'm not sure that is quite the case as although they added Robert Meachem, Jarret Johnson among others and came up big in the draft grabbing highly rated LB Melvin Ingram they did lose key players like Vincent Jackson and Mike Tolbert. Furthermore while adding talent to positions like OLB and WR they didn't really do much to help where they were weakest last year, the O-Line and Cornerback and until they address those key positions I don't see them making a playoff run. Phil Rivers will quickly become agitated and without Jackson, he will have another poor year. I expect the Chargers to finish about where they did last year at 8-8.

The Chiefs? - Kansas City were very unlucky last year losing several key players to injury early on in the season. However they still went on to finish 7-9. The Chiefs are a bit of a mystery, with Jamaal Charles back in the backfield and a healthy Matt Cassel who knows what they could achieve. They have also had a successful offseason picking up Peyton Hillis and Eric Winston as well as former Raiders Stanford Routt and Kevin Boss. There is a strong possibility that the chiefs could go from worst to first in the division this year and if they stay healthy they could easily get 10+ wins.

Two years ago the Raiders went 6-0 in the division. This year I don't see why the Raiders cannot repeat that however it will be hard. All teams have aspects of their game that if used effectively could dismantle the Raiders team and all 6 games will be close.

To answer the question 'Who is the best team in the AFC west excluding the Raiders?' I would have to say the Chiefs followed by the Broncos and then the Chargers. All 3 teams are close in talent and I wouldn't be surprised if come the end of the year, the teams will be ranked in reverse order.