After a lackluster rookie season as the number one overall pick, Bryce Young seemed to completely disintegrate in the first two starts of 2024. Yet, when he returned to the lineup after getting benched, he looked like a completely different player and brought some hope back for Carolina. Let’s dive into how he resurrected his young career!
In the second half of this annual series, we’re switching over to the defensive side of the ball and outlining young players around the NFL, who I expect to make a leap in 2024.
For the purposes of this exercise, considering it’s tough to set the guidelines for what counts as an actual “breakout”. Therefore, I relied mostly on statistical metrics that exclude players from this category – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nominations or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Also, I generally stayed away from players who have barely seen action in the pros yet.
Also, in order to not repeat myself, I won’t mention names like 49ers edge rusher Drake Jackson (who had a hot start before suffering a quadriceps injury that ended last season early for him), Broncos edge rusher Baron Browning (who missed the first half of the season but did put up strong pressure numbers from that point onwards) and Bengals safety Dax Hill (whose grading looks worse than his raw production, but I expect to align more now and Cincinnati’s defense generally bouncing back with him in year two as a starter), since they made the list last year.
Let’s begin:
The regular season has come to a close and after 17 games, it’s time to talk about what players were able to show in their first years as pros. Therefore, I put together my annual NFL All-Rookie team, consisting of a starting lineup on offense and defense, along with six “key backups”.
Just like the All-Pro teams this year, I decided to add a 12th spot to offense and defense, along with the classic four special-teamers. However, I took a little more freedom with that, since only two rookie fullbacks saw extended run (Cowboys’ Hunter Luepke and Saints’ Adam Prentice) and I thought there were more deserving players along the defensive front than an additional slot defender, since I already went with nickel personnel.
Let’s get into it:
We take a look at all 16 AFC teams and outline the one area they should still be looking to address heading into the upcoming season, in the second half of this series.
After extensively discussing the individual players and draft classes put together by NFL teams, along with outlining the most improved position groups across the league last week, it was time for me to work through these rosters yet again and find the one area they should still be looking to address personnel-wise. We’ll start with the NFC here, as part of this two-part series!
We’ve entered a point of the NFL offseason, where rosters are largely finalized, in terms of free agents being signed, veterans being extended or traded elsewhere, the draft nearly two months in the past now and only a few bigger names still on the open market, who to some degree are awaiting potential injuries or just looking to skip OTAs, before they sign somewhere.
So at this stage, I think it’s a helpful exercise to compare what rosters and specific position groups/units look like compared to a year ago. I went through each of them and outlined the one team that improved the most in that area, along without another group or two, which deserved an honorable mention.
Please keep in mind that I tried to judge the upgrades made as a whole, rather than just pointing at a franchise that brought in only one true difference-maker. And this is just based on player acquisitions from the end of this past season onwards, meaning no injuries or other factors that kept guys already under contract off the field.
We have come to the final edition of our 2023 NFL draft & roster review series!
And we’re finishing off with a bang, as we’re looking at the division that includes the reigning Super Bowl champions and three challengers at different stages of their team life cycles!
The last week of our divisional draft and roster analyses has arrived and we’re finishing up with the NFC and AFC West!
This particular group of four teams is pretty interesting, since two of them could be competing for the conference when it’s all said and done, while the others I would label as two clearly rebuilding franchises.
We’re closing week three of these divisional draft and roster breakdowns, by looking at the AFC South – which collectively selected three of the top four quarterbacks in the draft, while the fourth team could turn themselves into one of the favorites for the conference!
Now starting the second half of our divisional draft & roster reviews, we’re breaking down every single player drafted, their role on those rosters and what those classes mean for the Falcons, Panthers, Saints and Buccaneers!
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