Justin Bannan (97) against the Baltimore Ravens during the AFC divisional round playoff game at Sports Authority Field. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Longtime journeyman Justin Bannan could be on his way to his fifth NFL team. The San Diego Chargers are reportedly interested in 12-year veteran defensive tackle after cutting Antonio Garay and losing Aubrayo Franklin and Vaughn Martin in free agency.

Bannan had 42 tackles and one forced fumble for the Broncos last year. Mike McCoy is very familiar with Bannan from last season and from 2010 when Bannan had 35 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumbles for the Broncos.

Bannan brings experience and durability. In each of his seasons, he’s played in double-digit games. He’s played in all 16 games five times and 15 games three times.

The Chargers are extremely young at the position with their next youngest defensive lineman being 26 year-old Jarius Wynn.

It’s about time the Chargers picked from the Broncos’ pool of former players. The Broncos already swiped Quentin Jammer, Shaun Phillips, and Louis Vasquez from the Chargers.

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It looks like the other teams in the AFC West are tired of seeing the Denver Broncos make all the splashes.

Dwight Freeney signed with the first team that got desperate enough to meet his financial demands. (Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

Dwight Freeney was signed by the San Diego Chargers over the weekend after losing Melvin Ingram for the season due to injury, and the Oakland Raiders have surprisingly jumped into the Charles Woodson hunt.

Previously it has been the Broncos making the most noise in free agency and the draft and they’ve been established as a favorite to win the AFC and the Super Bowl.

Denver showed last season they’re only a couple of pieces away from winning a championship. They were also in pretty good shape in regards to the salary cap when the offseason started. A team like that can afford to be aggressive in free agency and it can be good strategy.

But when you’re in financial purgatory like the Raiders, or if you’re more like 11 players away rather than one like the Chargers, spending big in free agency can end up hurting more than it helps.

In the Chargers’ case they were desperate and it showed with Freeney’s contract numbers. They have a lot of holes on their roster but the loss of Ingram meant they didn’t have a single legitimate pass rusher. They absolutely had to get one of the few big-name defensive ends left in the free agent market.

Considering the Chargers have one of the worst offensive lines in the league, seeing them spend a maximum of $13.35 million over two years on an old defensive end is good news for the rest of the division. Not to mention the Chargers will have to adjust their defensive scheme to accommodate him since he doesn’t fit well in a 3-4 alignment.

It also makes the one-year $1.4 million deal the Broncos gave ex-Charger Shaun Phillips look like an absolute steal. It will be interesting to see whether Phillips or Freeney ends up with more sacks in 2013.

As far as the Raiders go they need to do something to give their fans hope. But bringing Woodson to Oakland wouldn’t do much in terms of wins and losses. This year is a complete bust for them regardless of what they do before the start of the season and their front office knows it. A big name would give their fans something to cheer about and a reason to get dressed up like clowns on Sundays.

Woodson would bring value for sure, but Oakland is looking way beyond the one or two years he has left in the league. Other than to mentor the young guys he wouldn’t make a meaningful impact on the big picture. It just doesn’t seem that a stud like Woodson would be okay with that. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where he would choose to languish through a 2 to 4 win season when his career is coming to a close.

Even though Woodson may make a visit to Oakland tomorrow it’s highly doubtful he ends up there. The Raiders don’t have much money to spend and they certainly can’t give him the chance to compete for a Super Bowl. This looks like an obvious leverage tactic by the Woodson camp. They’re using the Raiders to get every last drop of cash they can out of a good team.

Odds are that Woodson will end up with a contender, and my guess is he’ll sign exactly where he’s wanted to sign all along; in Denver. He just wants John Elway to open that wallet a little bit wider before he does so.

With a club like the Denver Broncos living on the block teams will do almost anything to keep up, even if they’re just covering up crumbling houses with layers of paint.

The recent developments show that the rest of the division is pulling out all the stops. And at the very least they want to their fan bases to see they’re giving it a try. A lot of things come down to image in the NFL and these moves provide the right image.

Unfortunately for them any image they project won’t make a bit of difference. The Broncos have the AFC West locked down until Peyton Manning hangs up his cleats.

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A Denver Broncos fan holds a sign in reference to the team clinching the AFC West in 2012. (Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)

The free agency activity in the AFC West has died down now that the NFL Draft is only a few weeks away.

The Denver Broncos certainly made the biggest splashes in free agency, both good and bad. But the Kansas City Chiefs were no slouches either. On the other hand it seems like the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have all but admitted they are still a few years away. They’ve both signed a few players, but it seems the impact guys are leaving them rather than joining.

Where the teams stand today doesn’t really mean much in regards to the 2013 season. All four will look different after they’ve navigated the draft, and there is still a lot of talent available as free agents that could wind up in the division.

With that said however, we can make some determinations based on what we’ve already seen and where it looks like these teams are heading:

Denver Broncos 

The Broncos were clearly the best team in the division in 2012 when they won the AFC West by a stunningly large margin. In the offseason they’ve improved as much as any team in the league by adding difference makers such as WR Wes Welker and OG Louis Vasquez, and solid contributors such as CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and DT Terrance Knighton. The only big loss was the messy departure of Elvis Dumervil, but the Broncos will certainly be addressing the defensive end position in the draft and/or free agency before the season starts. The biggest position of need is probably at running back. If Denver can find a workhorse back with fresh legs their offense will be putting up video game numbers this season. By the way, the Broncos still have the most salary cap room left (More than $8 million) among AFC West teams.

If Denver was a scary team for opponents last year they will be giving them nightmares this year. The schedule will have a few bumps but there is no reason this team can’t find a way to win 12 games, something that is pretty typical for a Peyton Manning-led football team.

For several years the Broncos were trying to become a contender within the division. But that isn’t good enough anymore. The question isn’t if this team can win the division or make the playoffs, it’s what happens when they get there. The Broncos have a single goal in 2013: Super Bowl.

Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City has made more changes in the offseason than any other team out there, and rightfully so. To say they were an embarrassment last season would be an insult to embarrassments. They brought in a new general manager, head coach, and quarterback to completely overhaul the organization. Alex Smith is certainly an upgrade behind center, but many doubt that he is a quarterback that can take a team to the Super Bowl, including myself. Most Chiefs fans would probably be content if he could just score a few points and make them competitive.

The Chiefs brought in some help at tight end in Anthony Fasano and added some solid players to the defensive secondary such as cornerbacks Sean Smith and Dunta Robinson. After the bigger names, they’ve gone on to sign a bunch of new players across the board. They will certainly look quite different in 2013.

I believe Kansas City will be much improved this year (Hard not to improve. I mean, they can’t possibly get any worse, right?). But when a team is starting at 2-14 a drastic improvement still doesn’t mean they will be in the running for the playoffs. I see the Chiefs as about a .500 football team right now. In the AFC West that will probably be good enough for second place.

San Diego Chargers

This is another team that’s going with a brand new general manager and head coach. Unfortunately for the Chargers, Coach Mike McCoy did not bring Peyton Manning with him from Denver. They did get Ken Whisenhunt as offensive coordinator, a move I like, but he is a short term solution there. Look for him to be a hot head coaching candidate as early as next season.

Outside of the front office and coaching staff, it doesn’t seem like anything else will be significantly different. Has anyone taken a look at the projected starters at offensive line in San Diego? Amazingly the o-line is worse today than it was at the end of the 2012 campaign. That is staggering. Quarterback Philip Rivers has turned in two of his worst seasons as a pro in recent years and it was due in part to the fact he was constantly on his back. Hopefully he got used to it down there, because even if they address the o-line in the draft it is still going to be one of the weakest units in the league.

If they do go all in at o-line in the draft, what are they going to do with the other holes in their lineup? Let’s face it; this isn’t the 2006 Chargers anymore. There is a big time talent gap in San Diego and they can’t come close to fixing it in a single offseason, especially if they are forced to draft an entire offensive line.

Louis Vasquez, their best offensive lineman from last year, now plays in Denver. Antwan Barnes and Antonio Garay are with the Jets, and Antoine Cason now plays in Arizona. The Chargers did sign RB Danny Woodhead, but I’m certain he’s much too small to carry the team on his back.

All of this is what makes their lack of action in free agency confusing. It’s clear that they are in re-building mode and planning for the long term, but there are still going to be games played in 2013. Will San Diego be able to be competitive?

This team is worse than they were last year. Add in the fact that Kansas City isn’t going to be two automatic wins again and the Chargers are going to have a tough road. As it stands now, it looks like San Diego will finish under .500 for the second year in a row.

Oakland Raiders

The nicest way to put this is that the Raiders will be an unmitigated disaster in 2013.

About a third of their salary cap is earmarked for players not on their roster anymore. Players who have escaped Oakland this offseason: QB Carson Palmer, LB Rolando McClain, DT Tommy Kelly, WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, S Michael Huff, P Shane Lechler, TE Brandon Myers, LB Philip Wheeler, etc. This list actually goes on from here.

In fairness the Raiders have brought in some guys. Among them CB Tracy Porter (A Denver castoff) and T Khalif Barnes were signed as free agents and unproven QB Matt Flynn was acquired via trade. But these additions will do nothing to stem the bleeding in Oakland.

Here’s what it boils down to: The Raiders finally have to deal with the complete demolition of the franchise at the hands of deceased owner Al Davis. His credit card bills are coming due to current GM Reggie McKenzie and it’s not leaving him many options. McKenzie has been forced to start from scratch, and the 2013 season has been completely sacrificed for the future.

Even though Oakland fans are going to be calling for the firing of everyone in the organization this year, I give McKenzie credit for doing what must be done. No one in the league could win with the current situation in Oakland. After this overhaul the franchise will actually be run like a real NFL organization for the first time in a very long time.

In the meantime get ready to enjoy a couple years’ worth of cleaning the floors with the Raiders. I expect them to win somewhere in the neighborhood of two games and be a frontrunner for the #1 overall draft pick next season.

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