Coming off a stellar 14-3 regular season, the top seed in the AFC playoffs and a berth in the conference championship game, the Denver Broncos might reasonably expect some respect heading into the 2026 NFL season.
Oddsmakers see things differently.
DraftKings lists the Broncos as third favorites to claim the AFC West at +225, trailing the Kansas City Chiefs at +160 and the Los Angeles Chargers at +190. That ranking comes even though Denver returns nearly its entire roster from last year.
The Broncos ended Kansas City’s nine-year run as division champions in 2025. They open the new campaign against those same Chiefs on Monday Night Football at Arrowhead Stadium, wrapping up Week 1 on Sept. 14.Football fans will focus on that matchup as the centerpiece of a loaded opening week that begins the previous Wednesday. Both clubs enter the game with key questions at quarterback after serious injuries last season.
Denver’s Bo Nix, now in his third year, is recovering from a fractured ankle suffered during an overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC divisional round. Early estimates put his recovery at four to six weeks, but indications now point to him being ready when training camp opens.
For Kansas City, the bigger uncertainty surrounds two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes. He tore his ACL in Week 15 of the 2025 season, the first major injury of a career that already includes three Super Bowl titles and two additional Super Bowl appearances.
Mahomes has made clear he intends to be on the field for the opener, especially given the opponent.
“That’s my goal,” Mahomes said recently. “I’ve said that since the beginning is being ready to go Week 1. I can’t predict the future and I know that it’s a long process. It’s not just my decision, but at the same time I’m going to give the doctors and the coaches every single opportunity I can to let me be out there Week 1. I don’t want to miss that game (against the Broncos) because that’s the team that won the division while we were gone and you want to be out there and ready to go with your teammates. I’ll give every single thing I can to be out there Week 1 and hopefully the doctors and the coaches give me the green light and I’m able to go out there with my guys and compete against one of the best teams in the league.”
The decision to place the Chiefs on Monday night to start the season reflects their continued drawing power. Since Mahomes took over as the full-time starter in 2018, Kansas City has reached five Super Bowls and made the AFC championship game in each of his first seven seasons as the primary quarterback.
Scheduling that opener also acknowledges Denver’s rising status after last season’s breakout. The Broncos finished 14-3, captured the division title and earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC.Kansas City, by contrast, limped to a 6-11 record in 2025 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Some Broncos supporters already sense a lasting shift in the balance of power within the division.
“I wholeheartedly believe the Chiefs are no longer a threat to the Broncos,” Denver Broncos 365 wrote on X on May 12. “I think the tides have completely turned. Bo Nix will have a better career at this point going forward than Mahomes. We were the champs last year, and that won’t change. Bookmark this.”
Whether that optimism holds will begin to take shape under the lights at Arrowhead in September. For now, the betting markets continue to rank Denver behind both of its primary AFC West rivals despite the success of a year ago.
At the end of the day, the oddsmakers have slapped the Broncos with some disrespect. The team should use this as extra motivation for the upcoming 2026 NFL season.
