Biggest AFC West matchups for the Denver Broncos in 2022

Denver Broncos matchups vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Chris Jones VS Dalton Risner/Quinn Meinerz

With all the focus on the high-powered offense in Kansas City, it’s easy to forget how good Chris Jones really is.

A Pro-Bowler the last three years as an interior player, getting at least seven sacks and around 20 quarterback hits in all of them. Outside of Aaron Donald, Jones may be the best interior pass rusher in the league.

On the other side, the Denver Broncos are putting together what looks like the best offensive line they’ve had in a long while.

Dalton Risner looked to be a building block on the line after his rookie year but took a step back last year.

Quinn Meinerz is a fan favorite and plays with a nastiness that you can’t help but love. They both are solid players but they need to be well above average going against Jones.

Travis Kelce VS Linebacker/Safeties/Ejiro Evero

Tyreek Hill has moved down to South Beach and the entire AFC West can breathe a sigh of relief. However, they still have to deal with Travis Kelce.

The Broncos actually did a wonderful job against Kelce last year limiting him to seven catches, 61 yards, and one touchdown in the two games. A much better showing compared to the eight catches, for 136 yards, and one touchdown he had in the 2020 week 13 matchup.

All this to say that he be even more involved with Hill now gone.

The Chiefs’ new wide receiving core is made up of a lot of question marks, so it is expected that Kelce will be the leader in targets by far for this team. Therefore, in the games against Denver, the Broncos need to make one of the other players beat them rather than Kelce.

If that means doubling him, hitting him off the line with an EDGE, or even shadowing him with Pat Surtain II the Broncos need to make it happen.