Stacking up the projected win total for the AFC West
May 13, 2021, 11:45 AM
The Denver Broncos may have the fourth-most forgiving schedule in the NFL, but how will they compare to other teams in the AFC West?
NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund has released her win total projections for the 2021 season and has the Broncos coming away with 8.1 wins based off her calculations.
Frelund’s projections are made by using the projected 53-man rosters as of today. She ran 50,000 simulations for all 272 regular-season games barring injuries, which are usually the biggest source of uncertainty, and with the projections assuming Aaron Rodgers will be playing for Green Bay and DeShaun Watson will be playing for Houston.
The Kansas City Chiefs are projected to win 11.9 games in 2021, leading the AFC West.
The Los Angeles Chargers come in second with 9.1 wins while the Broncos follow in third place at 8.1 wins and Las Vegas Raiders come in last with 6.1 wins.
“The early portion of the Broncos’ schedule (at Giants in Week 1, at Jaguars in Week 2, vs. Jets in Week 3) sets them up well to gather momentum before facing their first big hurdle of the season: vs. Ravens in Week 4,” Frelund wrote. “This will give their QB — whoever it ends up being — a nice opportunity to get into a rhythm with the team and especially receiver Courtland Sutton, who seems to be flying under the radar as a factor in Denver after missing most of 2020 with a torn ACL.”
