Our Frank Schwab counts down his NFL power rankings, evaluates each team’s off-season, asks for fantasy football advice, and predicts what the 2024 season could hold for each team.
We’ll get to our No. 1 team on July 31, the day before the Hall of Fame game kicks off the preseason, when the Chicago Bears face the Houston Texans.
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The Panthers hired a new head coach, Dave Canales, coming off a very good season as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator. He did wonders for Baker Mayfield’s career, which attracted the Panthers’ interest. Carolina spent $153 million on guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, traded for wide receiver Diontae Johnson and drafted wide receiver Xavier Legette, running back Jonathon Brooks and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. These were the first steps in helping QB Bryce Young reach his potential.
It’s not like the dark cloud has disappeared. Team owner David Tepper is still around, harassing the bar owners who try to attack him, ready to make the Panthers change all their plans when he becomes impatient with the possibility of losing again. Young has a long way to go and may never come close to Stroud as a player or pay what the Panthers gave up in this trade. The lineup still has huge holes on both sides of the ball.
The Patriots drafted North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, who along with head coach Jerod Mayo will lead the Patriots into a new era. The fact that several teams, including the Giants and Vikings, were very enthusiastic about trading for the third overall pick should tell the Patriots that staying where they were and drafting Maye was the right thing to do. The Patriots need to restock the roster, but you don’t turn down a potential franchise quarterback. New England’s rebuild will be much easier if Maye is a success.
Maye was very excited. He was the QB1 in this draft class per Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports. He has the entire skill package to be successful, as long as his aggressive nature doesn’t become a major issue with turnovers. One problem is that the Patriots still haven’t done much to improve the offense around them. They attempted to sign free agent receiver Calvin Ridley, and although team owner Robert Kraft said Ridley chose the Tennessee Titans because his girlfriend wanted to be in the South, Kraft’s comment that “Part of it might be the situation of the quarterback too” was probably more accurate. The Patriots are not yet a destination. This will take time. The first step is for Maye to become the type of QB other players want to join forces with.
There is no guarantee that rookie Bo Nix will start Week 1, but he will start soon. The problem is that there isn’t much around it. Patrick Surtain II is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, the offensive line isn’t terrible, receiver Courtland Sutton scored 10 touchdowns last season and… well, that’s about it. This is not a team that is ready to win right away, even if the QB6 in this draft class is an immediate success. This is what happens when you pay a high price for Russell Wilson and Sean Payton in trades. The Broncos somehow went 8-9 last season because Payton is still an excellent coach, but it will be a challenge this season, next and maybe in 2026 as well.
None of this should have been a surprise. When Payton came aboard, everyone knew a total disintegration was likely as the team suffered the consequences of Wilson’s cut. One of these days, there will be something for Broncos fans to celebrate beyond the dusty memories of Peyton Manning and that 2015 team.
Grabbing a coach that was in demand, a GM that everyone wanted and a quarterback that virtually everyone took second in the draft class is a good off-season. That’s the kind of core that can transform a franchise very quickly.
The problem with using the Texans as an example of a quick recovery is that they hit an unprecedented amount of green lights. They hired a great coach, DeMeco Ryans, who probably wouldn’t have looked at them if he had been drafted by another team at that time. They didn’t have the first pick in the draft, but CJ Stroud fell to them at No. 2 and ended up being perhaps the greatest rookie quarterback in NFL history. Many young players emerged at the same time. It’s difficult to replicate all of this.
