After winning the division last season, does the AFC West run through Denver?

There’s a shift that happens in the life cycle of every NFL franchise. The years of chasing, clawing and scrapping to be taken seriously eventually give way to something different, the moment when the rest of the league starts chasing you.

The Denver Broncos have arrived at that moment once again. And on a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Schlereth made clear that there’s no longer a debate about who owns the AFC West.

Mike Evans posed the question that has been hovering over the division all offseason.

“Who does the AFC West go through this year? Does it go through Denver, or does it still go through Kansas City?” Evans asked.

Schlereth didn’t pause.

“No it goes through Denver,” Schlereth said.

He then laid out the reasoning with the kind of matter-of-fact delivery that leaves no room for rebuttal.

“Denver’s the defending champ. Denver was the first overall seed. Denver is the best team in the AFC West,” Schlereth said.

He followed it with the punctuation mark.

“That’s just factual. So, they are the hunted. They’re not the hunters, they’re the hunted,” Schlereth said.

That distinction represents a change in identity for a franchise that spent the better part of a decade trying to find its way back to relevance. From 2016 through 2024, the Kansas City Chiefs owned the AFC West. Nine consecutive division titles. Multiple Super Bowl appearances. A dynasty that seemed like it would never loosen its grip on the conference. The Broncos spent those years cycling through quarterbacks, coaches and front-office philosophies, always chasing, never catching.

Then came Bo Nix. Then came the playoff appearances. Then came the 14-3 season, the division title, the first overall seed and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.

The Broncos didn’t just close the gap on Kansas City. They blew past them. The Chiefs finished last season with a losing record and missed the playoffs entirely. The power structure of the division has flipped completely.

But with that flip comes a different kind of pressure. Being the hunter is fueled by hunger and anonymity. Being the hunted is fueled by discipline and consistency.

Every team in the AFC West is now building its offseason around the goal of dethroning Denver. The Chargers are loading up. The Raiders are retooling. And the Chiefs, even after a down year, still have Patrick Mahomes, a quarterback who has proven time and again that writing him off is a dangerous game.

The Broncos can’t afford to play like hunters anymore. The mentality that got them here, the scrappy, prove-everybody-wrong energy, has to evolve into something more refined. Championship-level teams don’t chase. They set the standard and dare everyone else to meet it. That’s the challenge sitting in front of Denver as the 2026 season approaches.

Schlereth sees it clearly. The AFC West goes through Denver now. That’s not a prediction. That’s not a hot take. That’s the current reality of the conference. The only question left is whether the Broncos can handle the weight that comes with it, and make sure the crown stays exactly where it is.

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