OT: 2024 NFL Storylines
So…with all the transition of Michigan coaching staff to various spots in the NFL along with so many of our favorite talented national champions, there a lot of fun storylines to look forward to this upcoming season.
In no particular order, here are some of my favorites:
Round two JJ v CJ, when the Minnesota Vikings host the Houston Texans. In my mind, with all the nonsense about sign stealing it feels like the NFL success of all these champions is going to serve to further justify the integrity of the ‘23 title, although k guess the haters will always hate if total number of draft picks hasn’t been enough to convince them. This matchup should be quite the offensive showdown, and depending on timing during the season could put reigning OROTY vs favored OROTY against each other. Hope it’s late in the season.
Viking Giants: JJ gets a chance to show why passing at 6 was a massive error. Has shades of Ryan Day passing and immediate transition to Kill mode against the Buckeyes over lifelong fan. As a nominal Giants fan, this particular move really rankled. Their draft seemed pretty clueless to me.
Commanders Falcons
If Penix gets a chance to start, he’ll have nightmares of Mike Sainristl all over again. All game long.
Commanders Steelers
Sainristl and Roman Wilson will give us a fun glimpse into what it must have been like in practice for those guys.
Rams Seahawks
Fun matchup as Blake Corum was drafted to a divisional opponent for Mike McDonald. Watching him have to scheme up a defense to stop that run game w Stafford at QB will be quite the chess match. True to form taking Byron Murphy to plug up the middle was a very on point decision to start the Coach Mac tenure in Seattle.
Chargers Ravens
Harbaughbowl rematch speaks for itself
subplot: will Jim let Justin throw against Adisa Isaac? Will probably help that he’s got Joe Alt, or an “offensive weapon” as linemen are now referred to in LA.
Bengals Browns
Kris Jenkins Zack Zinter matchup pending a speedy recovery for our best former offensive lineman.
The best thing about the ‘23 team is watching them grow up, go pro, and get to continue dominating opponents at the next level, while they forever go blue.
Happy Monday y’all!
Side plot: is there a record for most super champions for a school from a single draft class? It feels like every single one of those drafted or signed as UDFA are deserving, and I really hope they all get a ring.
April 29th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
I keep thinking about Atlanta drafting Penix. Like, why did Atlanta fork over all that $$$ to Cousins, knowing they don’t even want him after a couple years? And why Penix? Sure, he’s got a great arm but he’s made of eggshells. Four season-ending injuries in college. He could barely walk after he faced Michigan’s NFL-like defense. How will he survive a 17-game season against real NFL defenses?
Atlanta is playing the Green Bay long game. Kirk Cousins is an awful QB, his record against teams over .500 is 16-47, which is a win rate of .254, 25%. Same for his 1-3 playoff record. QB's make $45m/year so when they cut him in 2 years it will have cost them $100m, not terrible. For that they get to teach Penix, and get guys ready around him.
Why Penix, I don't know. Kork Coupons got played when he said he was signing with a team with a "long term contract with stability, and a chance to win a Super Bowl".
To your last paragraph, I don't know how much Kork really cares about the "long-term" portion of that. He's getting paid regardless.
Maybe its Monopoly money and a Sparty grad fell for it? Sike!
I agree with being able to watch so many from the '23 team. What a special group!
The storyline I will watch most, though, is the progress upward of the teams in the NFC North. It looks like the Packers for certain, and also probably the Vikings and Bears (perhaps delayed by one year) have gotten measurably better. Granted, so have the Lions, but their road to repeating as division champs will be much tougher in 2024. And, for all the talk of Super Bowl, it all starts with getting that division title and home playoff game.
That being said, I like your other points, and I am looking most forward to watching Blake Corum. Probably my favorite Michigan player of all time. I hope he tears it up this season.
Agreed on the NFC North. It will be harder, but we have the established QB, and our window is open for the next 2-3 years.
Cam Sutton killed our chance last year, and now we have 5 new CB's to fix our weakest position.
There's a strong argument that the North divisions are the best two in football. The AFC North is probably the best division, period. The NFC North likely would have had three teams in the playoffs with a healthy Cousins last year, and the Bears surged late to a 7-10 record. Top-to-bottom, I don't see a better division in the NFC, and I'm not sure it's even close.
I am interested in the Chargers and the Lions/Titans.
The Lions were my team when I lived in Tennessee and we didn't have pro sports yet. Then we got the Titans right as I was leaving, so they became my team. Since they were pretty good almost every year from from 1999-2008, they overtook my Lions love, but I still really liked the Lions.
The Chargers are my "oh are they winning today? Thats cool!" team that I am not nearly as interested in. Though, when we moved to LA, we certainly follow them more. Plus, with Harbaugh, we really like them a bit more now.
This season, I guess my storylines I will follow:
- Titans:
- This team is likely looking at 9-10 wins or 2-3 wins with little room between. It all comes down to how good Levis is in year 2.
- Is Levis their QB of the future or just a placeholder? He has the weapons to succeed, but the OL is still a bit questionable (but much improved on paper vs last year). If he is not the QB of the future, the 2025 draft so far looks like one of the worst for QBs in years.
- Lions:
- In a stronger division now than ever, are the Lions able to keep ahead of the Pack (see what I did there?).
- Assuming the Lions make the playoffs, do they finally take the next step and make the Super Bowl? Outside of San Francisco and Green Bay, I don't foresee any teams that you can really say "Oh this might be a tough one" if they were to play in the playoffs - injuries aside.
- Chargers:
- How does Harbaugh fare in his return to an NFL that has gone crazy pass-happy in the decade since he was last coaching at this level?
Bonus storyline:
Brian’s weekly roundtable discussion reactions to JJ’s passing numbers on play action as MN ran the highest amount of play action in the league last year at 31% of drop back passes.