The Broncos have made changes at head coach and offensive coordinator since the end of their season, and their star quarterback has considered retirement, but Las Vegas still likes the team’s chances for 2015. Betting site Bovada.lv gives Denver 10/1 odds to win next year’s Super Bowl, with only the Seahawks, Patriots, and Packers ahead of the Broncos. On the other end of the spectrum, no club has longer odds at a championship than the Raiders, who are tied with the Jaguars at 200/1 odds.
Here’s the latest out of the AFC West:
- Gil Brandt of NFL.com is the latest to report that Peyton Manning is likely to return for another season in 2015, indicating in a tweet that he’s hearing the Broncos quarterback will “almost certainly” be back. Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com wrote yesterday that Manning could announce his return at some point this week, after Woody Paige of the Denver Post reported a couple weeks ago that the veteran signal-caller was leaning toward continuing his career.
- Providing an update on the Raiders‘ hunt for a defensive coordinator, Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle says that it still doesn’t seem as if the team is any rush to make a decision. According to Tafur (all Twitter links), Seahawks linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. remains a candidate, and Oakland could also dip into the college ranks — with National Signing Day coming up this week, a coach could wait until after that to take the Raiders job. As for Mike Smith, who has been considered Jack Del Rio‘s top choice all along, the former Falcons head coach would like to take a year off, and hasn’t changed his mind on that yet, per Tafur.
- The Broncos have hired Fred Pagac as their outside linebackers coach, a source tells Alex Marvez of Fox Sports (Twitter link). Pagac, a former defensive coordinator for the Vikings, worked with the Bills’ linebackers in 2014.