NFL 2024 largest storylines: Aaron Rodgers, Caleb Williams and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs offense | NFL Information

The return of Aaron Rodgers, the arrival of Caleb Williams and a sizzling seat in Dallas – we have a look at a few of the largest storylines heading into the 2024 NFL season…

Aaron Rodgers in New York 2.0

Let’s do this once more, lets? The New York Jets entered the 2023 marketing campaign purring with long-lost hutzpah, gleaming with postseason potential behind their prime tier protection, forged of younger expertise and, in fact, the four-time MVP quarterback they’d acquired from the Inexperienced Bay Packers.

These hopes would fade 4 performs into the opening sport of the season as Aaron Rodgers suffered a year-ending Achilles harm, paving the best way for a season of Zach Wilson-spearheaded disappointment. The Jets completed the 2023 marketing campaign 7-10 to increase the NFL’s longest energetic shedding streak whereas persevering with their wait on a return to the Tremendous Bowl for the primary time since defeating Don Shula’s Baltimore Colts in January 1969.

However Rodgers is again, albeit on the age of 40, to tug the strings to an offense blessed with younger expertise in working again Breece Corridor and star receiver Garrett Wilson, having additionally added veteran wideout Mike Williams and upgraded the offensive line with tackles Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses and first-round rookie Olu Fashanu. Regardless of the workforce’s troubles, the Jets nonetheless ranked third in EPA/play final season. If Rodgers can orchestrate one thing near a prime 10 offense, a long-awaited return to the playoffs could possibly be in sight.

What model of the Chiefs offense will we see?

The Chiefs have a proclivity for shelling out kicks to the enamel. An Andy Reid play-call from the school-yard, a trigonometry-testing Patrick Mahomes throw, a ‘how is he so open?’ Travis Kelce catch-and-clobber.

Their largest enamel kick but arrived final season as they snatched an unlikely second straight Tremendous Bowl behind a rampant Steve Spagnuolo Trent McDuffie-patrolled, L’Jarius Sneed-ignited, Chris Jones-inspired protection that had duck-taped over the offensive averageness shut rivals had been praying for. Their most ominous portrayal of inevitability but. Chiefs averageness is a bit of completely different to regular averageness when No 15 is again there.

For the primary time since Mahomes took over as starter in 2018 the Chiefs offense ranked decrease than sixth in yards, whereas additionally falling to fifteenth in factors having did not put up greater than 20 factors in 4 of six video games throughout November and December (not very Chiefsy). They dropped to eleventh in EPA/play, their receivers have been responsible of probably the most dropped catches within the league and Travis Kelce was held under 1,000 yards for the primary time since 2015.

This offseason they sought the type of explosiveness Mahomes’ armoury had lacked final yr, drafting 40-yard sprint record-breaker Xavier Worthy and including veteran Hollywood Brown, bolstering a receiving group wherein Rashee Rice had impressed as a rookie and complementing Isiah Pacheco as he stomps via a few of the NFL’s most achieved inside blockers.

Sneed might have left an unnerving void upon departing within the offseason, however the Chiefs nonetheless don one of many league’s most creative defensive schemes. Flip the notch up ever so barely once more on offense they usually could possibly be even scarier, if that’s potential/authorized.

The brand new face of Chicago

There may be new hope in Chicago, the place rookie quarterback Caleb Williams fronts a recent period of optimism for the Bears after being chosen with the primary total choose in April’s NFL Draft. The previous USC man succeeds Justin Fields, now of the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the most recent famous person playmaker to emerge from school and a quarterback prospect as highly-anticipated and as highly-regarded because the likes of Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck.

His skillset is tailored to the NFL’s fashionable dual-threat calls for and the rationale he has drawn comparisons to Patrick Mahomes such is his mobility to govern the pocket, such is his capability to create off-script, such is his capability to flee stress.

His arm expertise passes the attention check with the precision and energy to assault all ranges of the sector, fizzing quick-release passes into brief and intermediate avenues in addition to comfortably taking the highest off a protection to flip the sector in a single play. He looms as the final word playmaker, armed with the Mahomes-esque present to improvise via absurd arm angles with which to squeeze passes via visitors and round our bodies.

Basic supervisor Ryan Poles went out this offseason to make sure his new prized asset was strolling right into a scenario to succeed. He traded for veteran huge receiver Keenan Allen – one of many league’s most gifted separators – signed pass-catching working again D’Andre Swift and tight finish Gerald Everett, and drafted defense-dwarfing rookie wideout Rome Odunze with the ninth select of Washington.

DJ Moore returns for his second season after placing up a career-high 1,364 yards in 2023 as Chicago’s downfield flyer, the Bears are loaded with youth throughout their offensive line, and Matt Eberflus has constructed a protection that ranked prime 10 over the second half of final season. Expectations simply obtained a bit of larger for a workforce with only one profitable season within the final decade.

Can King Henry encourage a Ravens Tremendous Bowl cost?

It made excellent sense, proper? Longevity-defiant bulldozer meets headache-inciting growth on offense. The Baltimore Ravens leveled up once more this offseason after they signed Derrick Henry on a two-year $16m deal as he moved on from the Tennessee Titans in pursuit of a deserved Championship run.

In an period of committee backfields and dual-threat runners, Henry has swatted away working again narratives with 5 1,000-yard campaigns in his final six, in between which he nonetheless managed 937 yards in an eight-game 2021 season minimize brief by harm. Twice in that interval he led the league in speeding yards, notably surpassing 2,000 yards in 2020, whereas main all backs in carries 4 occasions since 2019.

Not is it the run-dominant Greg Roman scheme of the previous awaiting him, the sort that may have relished a Lamar Jackson-Derrick Henry backfield tandem of torment, however maybe that’s the conundrum dealing with Baltimore’s shut contenders.

As an alternative he joins a Todd Monken offense, one designed to intensify the passing skills of its quarterback extra incessantly with extra three-receiver personnel teams. With that comes the defensive conundrum: fill the field to suffocate Henry up entrance and sacrifice personnel towards a pass-catching group of Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews, or play gentle and drop into excessive coverages to fight the move whereas inviting the run. Henry was THE offense in Tennessee, and even then foiling him proved tough. Cue pick-your-poison carnage in Baltimore.

Granted, Baltimore have not simply deserted the run below offensive coordinator Monken; they nonetheless ranked third in rush EPA and led the league in speeding yards per sport final season behind the NFL’s greatest speeding quarterback in Jackson. In addition they, although, have not operated with a bell-cow again since Ray Rice from 2009-2013. For all their speeding efficiency, floor management was an space wherein they have been pissed off by Spagnuolo’s Chiefs throughout their playoff defeat, ending a season throughout which they’d been dominant. Henry presents a treatment to as a lot.

The Kirk Cousins issue

The Atlanta Falcons are all in. The cavalry have arrived and expectations are hovering after an offseason wherein proprietor Arthur Clean and Basic Supervisor Terry Fontenot accelerated the franchise’s pursuit of a return to the playoffs for the primary time since 2017. Atlanta changed Arthur Smith with Raheem Morris at head coach, earlier than parting with quarterback Desmond Ridder and signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180m contract, ending the veteran’s time with the Minnesota Vikings after seven seasons and buying what they hope to be a solution to years of uncertainty below heart since Matt Ryan.

Cousins has long-been among the many league’s most polarising quarterbacks, constantly producing the numbers of a prime half quarterback with out ever actually inspiring perennial Tremendous Bowl competition. He led Minnesota to the playoffs on simply two events and is notably coming off an Achilles tear, which noticed him miss uncommon time via harm. For all of the qualms and queries over his postseason credentials, Cousins is a confirmed operator with the power to maximise expertise, of which there’s lots in Atlanta.

He enters an offense anchored by one of many NFL’s most dynamic weapons in working again Bijan Robinson, with a 1,000-yard receiver in-waiting in Drake London, tight finish Kyle Pitts and offseason addition Darnell Mooney for firm alongside one of many league’s greatest offensive traces.

He additionally groups up with first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, whose expertise below Sean McVay ought to supply some familiarity following Cousins’ time with the latter in Washington. It is win-now time for the Falcons.

Quarterbacks getting back from harm

Rodgers isn’t the one marquee quarterback primed to make a comeback. Joe Burrow, sporting newly-bleached Slim Shady hair, returns to spearhead a Cincinnati Bengals cost as one of many extra certified combatants to the Mahomes reign of dominance. Cincinnati had been among the many favourites to make a return to the Tremendous Bowl final season earlier than Burrow suffered a year-ending wrist harm towards Baltimore in Week 11.

The Bengals retained Tee Higgins to protect one of many league’s most harmful receiving duos alongside Ja’Marr Chase, fortified their offensive line with veteran proper deal with Trent Brown, add tight finish assist through former Dolphin Mike Gesicki and launched Zack Moss, coming off a career-year, as a substitute for working again Joe Mixon. A wholesome Burrow thrusts them straight again into competition.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is in the meantime poised for his first full season as starter after seeing his rookie yr minimize brief by a shoulder harm in Week 5, till which level there had been early indicators of an ideal match inside Shane Steichen’s Colts offense. With out Richardson the Colts managed a 9-8 season to marginally miss out on the playoffs. Now they welcome again some of the explosive two-way athletes to check on the place as he continues his improvement.

Deshaun Watson returns from a season-ending shoulder harm having seen Joe Flacco and the league’s greatest protection lead the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs; Justin Herbert returns from a year-ending finger harm to steer the Los Angeles Chargers of their first yr below Jim Harbaugh; Daniel Jones enters a make-or-break season with the New York Giants (appears like we’ve got stated that earlier than) on the again of struggling a torn ACL.

Are Houston right here to remain?

The Houston Texans turned one of many tales of the 2023 marketing campaign as they mounted a surprising run to the playoffs, ending 10-7 within the common season and beating the Browns on Wild Card weekend earlier than ultimately developing brief towards the Ravens within the Divisional Spherical.

On the coronary heart of their season was rookie quarterback CJ Stroud, who diced NFL defenses with knowledgeable precision, masterful contact and veteran-esque anticipation amid a blossoming relationship with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik on his approach in direction of profitable Offensive Rookie of the 12 months.

It marked progress forward of schedule below head coach DeMeco Ryans, who had in the meantime come throughout from the San Francisco 49ers to propel the Texans offense from backside three to prime half within the league, inside which edge rusher Will Anderson Jr additionally claimed Defensive Rookie of the 12 months.

They bulked up once more this offseason as they acquired four-time Professional Bowler Stefon Diggs from the Buffalo Payments on the again of six straight 1,000-yard campaigns. He joins a weapons room already together with Nico Collins, who put up a career-high 1,297 yards final season, second-year stud Tank Dell, tight finish Dalton Schultz and newly-introduced Joe Mixon.

If Diggs’ arrival wasn’t clear indication of a perception in competition prior to anticipated, the Texans additionally signed defensive lineman Denico Autry and edge rusher Danielle Hunter. The AFC’s contenders have a brand new drawback to cope with.

Is the Payments’ window nonetheless open?

The Buffalo Payments have been banging, not simply knocking, on the door. During the last 4 years they’ve gained 4 successive AFC East titles, misplaced an AFC Championship Sport and suffered three straight Divisional Spherical eliminations, three of these 4 defeats coming by the hands of Mahomes and the Chiefs, together with the notorious ’13 seconds’ sport.

Issues had been heading south final season after they discovered themselves 6-6 coming into their Week 13 bye, just for Sean McDermott’s facet to complete the season on a six-game profitable streak that instantly had them pitted as some of the harmful groups within the playoffs. Then they bumped into Mahomes, Spagnuolo and the Chiefs.

There was high-profile change in Buffalo in the course of the offseason as Diggs was traded to the Texans, with Josh Allen’s receiving core now led by Khalil Shakir – who teased breakout indicators in 2023 – rookie Keon Coleman, veteran Curtis Samuel and tight finish duo Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid, the latter of whom emerged as a trusted goal in his rookie marketing campaign. Between final yr’s wobbles – which might quantity to the mid-season firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey – and heightened competitors within the AFC, the partitions are closing in ever so barely.

However with Allen stays a season reveller in carnage, a two-way wrecking ball able to torpedoing your greatest laid plans on the bottom or flipping the sector with one dunk-on-them bomb. With Allen and a prime 10 protection in tact, they will problem. However each expectations and projections really feel extra obscure.

The brand new head coaches

Marquee modifications on the sideline have been afoot in the course of the offseason, notably in Hollywood as Jim Harbaugh made his long-awaited return to NFL teaching by buying and selling in his Faculty Nationwide Championship-winning Michigan for the duty of main Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in direction of glory. Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler all departed as central figures to the Chargers offense, whereas J.Okay. Dobbins and Gus Edwards reunited with new offensive coordinator Greg Roman in view of a stronger floor menace than final season.

Joe Alt was additionally drafted with the fifth total choose as a possible cornerstone at offensive deal with alongside Rashawn Slater and Zion Johnson. It’s a rebuild job of kinds, headed by a star quarterback however a younger receiver group, together with a protection that underperformed miserably final yr regardless of its expertise.

The New England Patriots embark on a brand new period in 2024 as they start life below first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, who takes over from Invoice Belichick following his departure after 24 seasons. Belichick’s exit got here within the wake of a 4-13 end to the marketing campaign, on the coronary heart of which had been an offensive capitulation that may lead the Patriots to North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the third total choose on the Draft.

Elsewhere, Dave Canales is the person tasked with overseeing the event of 2022 No 1 choose Bryce Younger following his gruelling rookie yr with the Carolina Panthers, having simply helped Baker Mayfield revive his profession in Tampa. Mike Macdonald leads the post-Pete Carroll period in Seattle as one of many NFL’s defensive masterminds, whereas Dan Quinn is again in a prime job with the Washington Commanders as considered one of eight head coach appointments this previous cycle.

Dak, Dallas and a sizzling seat?

How very Dallas Cowboys it was of them. You possibly can nearly see it coming. Jordan Love, the Inexperienced Bay Packers and the youngest offense within the league driving a shock run to the playoffs, versus the league’s greatest scoring offense led by a scorching Dak Prescott and with Dan Quinn’s Micah Parsons-inspired protection nestled within the prime 5.

The Cowboys had gone 12-5 within the common season to cruise to the NFC East title, solely to seek out themselves trailing 27-0 within the first half of their Divisional Spherical conflict, by the top of which Matt LaFleur’s Packers had run out 48-32 winners.

How rapidly Tremendous Bowl competition remodeled into intense stress on the way forward for head coach Mike McCarthy, whose job Jerry Jones would later elect to spare within the offseason. He now faces one other yr of scrutiny as Dallas resume their agonising pursuit of a primary Tremendous Bowl berth since lifting the Lombardi Trophy after victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on the finish of the 1995 season.

One portion of enterprise was sorted on the finish of preseason when the Cowboys made huge receiver CeeDee Lamb the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL historical past, whereas each Prescott and Parsons nonetheless await their coveted pay days.

They’ve in the meantime misplaced defensive string-puller Dan Quinn to Washington, seen pick-six service provider DaRon Bland dominated out for as much as eight weeks, misplaced offensive deal with Tyson Smith, bid farewell to Tony Pollard and seen linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, whereas Trevon Diggs returns from harm. McCarthy’s seat is burning.

Large footwear to fill in Philly

One of many unsung storylines of the season comes at Lincoln Monetary Subject, the place the Philadelphia Eagles start life with out stalwart heart Jason Kelce following his retirement from the NFL after 13 years earlier this offseason. Kelce had been the centrepiece to one of many league’s most achieved offensive traces, with unerring reliability in move safety and serving as probably the most dominant lane-ploughing run sport architect in his place.

The Eagles had consulted at size with Kelce when it got here to drafting a middle in 2022, the seven-time Professional Bowl taking part in an instrumental function in selecting out Cam Jurgens as a great successor upon his retirement. Jurgens was taken out of Nebraska with the 51st choose within the second spherical earlier than backing up Kelce as a rookie after which beginning 11 video games at proper guard final season.

He now shifts throughout to centre stage in an offensive line that performed a defining function in one of many league’s most effective short-yardage models, with a brand new star title for whom to clear the trail in Saquon Barkley following his introduction in free company.

Watch the brand new NFL season stay on Sky Sports activities, beginning with reigning Tremendous Bowl champions the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs internet hosting the Baltimore Ravens from Midnight on Friday September 6. Additionally stream with NOW.

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