We have finally made it to Week 1 of the NFL regular season.
Just days away from hearing that joyous line from RedZone host Scott Hanson: “Seven hours of commercial-free football.”
Or maybe you won’t hear those words after declining to cough up a whopping $700 to watch Sunday Ticket and RedZone through the Apple Store.
It’s expensive to watch football in the streaming era, similar to how it’s expensive for NFL teams to roster standout quarterbacks and wide receivers.
Star wide receivers Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk have all signed lucrative contract extensions since their last time on the gridiron, and the quarterback market continued to balloon in the offseason with lucrative extensions for Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, among others. Looking back, this financial boom was foreshadowed when Daniel Jones broke the bank during the 2023 offseason.
But we can finally stop talking about contracts for the most part with the regular-season opener Thursday in Kansas City. And we can also stop with overreactions to the preseason.
Let’s wrap up the offseason and summer training camps by listing the final winners and losers. We promise not to put too much stock on preseason snaps.
Winners
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons received nonstop criticism for their surprise selection of Michael Penix Jr. in the first round weeks after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract.
The critics have gone quiet lately because the Falcons’ draft-day thinking is now easier to understand after they signed safety Justin Simmons and traded for edge rusher Matthew Judon last month. Many in the football world, including myself, disapproved of the Falcons using the No. 8 pick on a quarterback rather than adding help for defensive lineman Grady Jarrett and cornerback A.J. Terrell.
With the first 14 picks in the draft being offensive players, the Falcons should be applauded for not reaching on a defensive player solely because of need. Clearly, the scouts were down on this year’s defensive draft prospects, leading the Falcons to use their pick on a potential franchise quarterback for the future.
After the recent splash signings, Atlanta is now well positioned to contend in the present with Cousins, and possibly in the future, too, if Penix proves he’s the real deal down the road.
Kansas City Chiefs
Go ahead, roll your eyes. I get it.
Many are tired of seeing the Chiefs win, but I had to include them in the winner’s category after seeing how coach Andy Reid utilized rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the preseason, and how the first-round pick made the most of his opportunity.
Reid schemed up productive plays for Kadarius Toney, but he struggled to execute them, leading to him being waived last week. So, yes, it’s a big deal that Worthy is catching the football (a problem in Kansas City last year) and well on his way to becoming a reliable playmaker for Patrick Mahomes.
Last season, the Chiefs had a sluggish offense before improving late in the season and ultimately winning a second straight Super Bowl. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Chiefs’ offense return to its dominant ways in the regular season.
Yes, there’s still the possibility of wide receiver Rashee Rice getting suspended due to his legal issues. But Worthy developing into a downfield threat could be all this stacked team needs to overcome a lack of depth at wide receiver.
The Chiefs are set up to become the first team in NFL historyto capture three consecutive Super Bowls.
Chicago Bears
In Caleb Williams, the Bears might finally have a franchise quarterback—one who could actually throw for 4,000 yards in a season.
Again, let’s not get carried away about preseason performances. Williams still needs to show that his off-script magic won’t lead to killer turnovers during regular-season games. But it’s tough not to be impressed with the dynamic plays Williams produced while away from the pocket.
He has traits that resemble Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, which is why he was the first pick in the draft. This could be a special season for the Bears based on the flashes Williams provided in the preseason and the impressive roster GM Ryan Poles put together in the offseason.
Seattle Seahawks
I have to often remind myself not to fall for summer optimism with the teams I visit during my training camp tour.
But I’m buying into Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald getting the talented defense to produce at a high level, something that didn’t transpire last season despite the many notable names on the roster.
Macdonald showed as the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator that he knows how to get players on the same page. His disguises and formations can be complex, but he clearly taught it well enough for Ravens players to understand.
I gathered this from just one visit in Renton, Wash., but the Seahawks showed a strong grasp of Macdonald’s scheme and were flying all over the field during a competitive camp practice last month. They have plenty of depth on the defensive line, one of the main ingredients to a successful Macdonald defense.
On the offensive side, the hire of coordinator Ryan Grubb could benefit Geno Smith, one of the better deep-ball throwers in the league. Grubb has a pass-happy scheme, and he has the wide receivers in Seattle to flourish in Year 1 with Macdonald.
Tennessee Titans
The more moves the Titans make, the more I’m liking them as a sleeper team.
Tennessee recently addressed its lack of linebacker depth by trading for Ernest Jones IV, sending a 2026 fifth-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams. Jones racked up 145 total tackles and was named a team captain for the Rams last season.
Jones now joins a defense featuring defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, whom the team acquired in a trade with the Chiefs.
There’s more to like on the other side of the ball. The Titans made many upgrades that will likely benefit quarterback Will Levis in his second season. Just to rattle off a few names: Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard, Lloyd Cushenberry III and JC Latham.
Coach Brian Callahan has enough talent to make real noise during his first season as the Titans’ head coach.
Losers
New England Patriots
The Patriots appear to have the inside track for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
It said plenty when 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk reportedly turned down a contract offer from the Patriots that had an annual average salary north of $30 million—more than what he reportedly accepted from San Francisco on Thursday. Aiyuk nixing the trade to New England also eventually played a part in why coach Jerod Mayo named veteran Jacoby Brissett the starting quarterback over rookie Drake Maye.
The Patriots are well aware that their poor roster could have a lasting negative impact on Maye’s development. But putting the rookie’s future ahead of the veteran players in that locker room is one way to ensure a losing season.
If that wasn’t enough evidence for New England to prepare for a rocky season, the once mighty franchise shipped Judon to the Falcons, a team that can afford to compete and sit their first-round rookie quarterback (Penix) because of a strong roster.
Perhaps the Patriots’ fortunes change in a month or two if Maye takes the job from Brissett and shows flashes of being a franchise quarterback. Until then, the Patriots head into the season opener with not much to talk about.
Pittsburgh Steelers
At some point, Mike Tomlin needs to take more risks with his offense, which is consistently one of the NFL’s most conservative units.
Assuming Russell Wilson doesn’t turn back the clock, Tomlin could make a season-defining bold call to bench Wilson early in the season in favor of Justin Fields, the option with more upside because of Fields’s athleticism.
The Steelers have been a stagnant offense the past few years and haven’t had a dynamic passing attack since Ben Roethlisberger threw for 5,129 yards in 2018.
Tomlin and the Steelers were committed to Roethlisberger when they probably shouldn’t have been during the final years of his career. They then whiffed on the first-round selection of Kenny Pickett in 2022, but to Tomlin’s credit, he did move on from Pickett after only two seasons, something most organizations aren’t willing to do that soon with QBs drafted that high.
Tomlin might have gone back and forth this offseason with changing his offensive views by having a quarterback room of Fields and Wilson. And it appeared Tomlin was willing to roll the dice on Fields, who’s a decade younger than Wilson, when he dragged out the quarterback competition, believing it was Wilson’s job to lose.
In the end, Tomlin went with the safe choice of Wilson, who’s coming off back-to-back rough seasons with the Denver Broncos. Tomlin is banking on Wilson’s experience as a Super Bowl–winning quarterback, while ignoring the signs of a player no longer in his prime.
With Fields, there’s untapped potential. For now, the Steelers aren’t willing to see what he can do.
New York Giants
Daniel Jones’s poor preseason defined by a lack of consistency and killer turnovers served as a reminder why GM Joe Schoen was willing to trade many assets to move up in the draft for a new quarterback.
Again, let’s not put too much stock into the preseason, but we’ve seen enough of Jones’s red flags over the last few years. He’s running out of excuses, especially with the team drafting wide receiver Malik Nabers in the first round.
This is a make-or-break season for Jones, and it might not matter if injuries or the up-and-down offensive line hinders his performances. He needs to find a way to make it work and stay available.
Minnesota Vikings
Rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy delivered a promising performance in his preseason debut, but a few days later it was revealed he’d miss the entire 2024 season due to a torn ACL. It was a devastating blow for the Vikings as they set to embark on their first season without Cousins.
Minnesota likely wanted to give McCarthy a redshirt season anyway so he can learn on the sidelines with Sam Darnold as the starter. That’s the silver lining from this crushing injury, but the Vikings probably wanted to at least have the opportunity of seeing what McCarthy could do with this talented group of skill players featuring wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2024 NFL Preview: Final Offseason Winners and Losers .
