Hottest NFL Hot Takes After 6 Weeks of the 2024 Season
Six weeks in, we've seen...everything?
It's been one of the wildest starts to an NFL season I've witnessed in 18 years covering the NFL professionally, and you get the feeling it's not about to let up.
With that in mind, here are some retooled hot takes for the remainder of the 2024 campaign.
The Browns Should Not Bench Deshaun Watson
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Deshaun Watson hasn't been a particularly effective NFL quarterback since 2020. He has the lowest qualified QBR in the NFL this season, and it's got to be hard for anyone to see light at the end of this tunnel.
But the Browns really have little reason to bench him.
Let's not pretend Jameis Winston can fix this team. The defense has lost its luster, and the offense leads the NFL in both dropped passes and pressures allowed.
If the ship is sinking, go down with your $230 million quarterback. Give him a chance to either pull off a miraculous career recovery or reinforce the notion that it's time to move on.
And if the it's the latter, at least you've built up more draft capital for 2025.
Eagles and Cowboys Are Bad Teams That Need Fresh Starts
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Both popular NFC East teams were legitimate Super Bowl contenders last year and entered 2024 with strong odds once again, but now it's time to conclude that the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys are both flawed.
After barely hanging on to beat the lowly Browns on Sunday, the Eagles are now 4-8 in their last 12 games. Prior to this slump, they were a phony 10-1 thanks to a series of underwhelming victories over soft opponents.
Really, they haven't been the same since losing Super Bowl LVII to the Chiefs. In fact, they've been outscored by a 34-point margin over the course of 23 regular-season and playoff games since that night in February 2023.
It's time to conclude that 2022 was an anomaly for both Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni. This Eagles team lacks "it," and at the very least they ought to consider a coaching change soon.
Ditto for the Cowboys, who have now surrendered 167 points in four consecutive home losses dating back to last year's playoffs. They simply don't rise to occasions, and they're lucky to be 3-3. They easily could have lost to the Steelers and/or the Giants.
The problem is they're now married to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb for years to come, and there won't be a lot of wiggle room elsewhere.
At the very least, if they continue to spiral with an extremely tough schedule following their Week 6 bye, head coach Mike McCarthy has got to go.
All 4 NFC North Teams Will Make the Playoffs
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This is, of course, linked to what's happening in Dallas and Philadelphia. And San Francisco. And New Orleans. And Los Angeles.
The NFC is just a mess, except in the North. The last-place Packers and Bears are 4-2 and surging, while the Vikings and Lions are the only teams in the conference with fewer than two losses.
Those four squads are the only teams in the NFC with scoring margins better than plus-40.
The Packers are in great shape despite the fact that Jordan Love has yet to really hit a groove, which should happen at some point.
The Bears are on the same track despite Caleb Williams starting badly, but that has already changed and should trend further upward.
The Vikings already have a huge early-season pad, and the Lions are broadly considered one of the best teams in football.
Sure, they'll beat up on each other to an extent, but the wild-card competition just looks so weak.
Decimated San Francisco will probably take care of the ailing Rams, now-pathetic Seahawks and still-rebuilding Cardinals to win the NFC West by default.
Nobody looks prepared to challenge Washington or hang close enough for major playoff consideration in the East.
The flawed Falcons and Buccaneers are factors in the South, but the Saints are falling off a cliff and the Panthers are a non-factor.
Right now, my money's on anyone in the NFC North over whoever misses out on first place in any of those other divisions.
For the first time in NFL history, we may see a last-place team in the postseason.
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Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels Will Be Most Successful 1-2 Picks at QB in History
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It's early, but it sure looks like something historic is happening with the two quarterbacks chosen atop the 2024 NFL draft.
Obviously, No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels is an MVP contender. He has the highest QBR in the NFC for the division-leading Washington Commanders.
However, Williams has now recovered from a slow start by posting a 122.8 passer rating over the course of a three-game winning streak for the Chicago Bears. His game-by-game ratings since Week 2 are 51.0, 80.0, 106.6, 126.2, 124.4.
We already knew the No. 1 pick was a potential generational talent, and his performances are already beginning to back that up. And yet he still hasn't looked quite as impressive as Daniels, who has been giving plenty of C.J. Stroud 2023 vibes in D.C.
Are they perfect? Hell, no. Are they guaranteed to become superstars? Absolutely not. But there's something special with both of them, and it might exceed what we saw from 1-2 picks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III in 2012.
Of course, it didn't work out great in the long run for either of those guys, and it's not hard to imagine Williams and Daniels having much better careers than each of them
It's even easier to envision them beating out the other 1-2 QB draft punches in history:
- 2023: Stroud and Bryce Young (already demoted)
- 2021: Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson (already a backup in a new city)
- 2016: Jared Goff and Carson Wentz (both with limited longevity for the teams that drafted them)
- 2015: Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota (same deal)
- 2012: Luck and Griffin
- 1999: Tim Couch (bust) and Donovan McNabb
- 1998: Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf (bust)
- 1993: Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer (only a few seasons as an NFL starter)
- 1971: Jim Plunkett and Archie Manning (went to two combined Pro Bowls)
There Will (or at Least Should) Be a Fire Sale in New Orleans
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They're old, they're hurting, they're slumping and they're expensive.
That shocking 2-0 start might have been one final gasp from a New Orleans Saints team that has been delaying the inevitable for several years. It's 2-4 now and without quarterback Derek Carr. The rest of the offense is extremely banged up, and the offensive line was always likely to become a problem.
Rather than chasing pricy and aging veterans such as Jets-bound Davante Adams, it's time to sell ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline and finally maximize draft capital for 2025 and beyond.
Carr, Alvin Kamara, Cameron Jordan, Marshon Lattimore, Tyrann Mathieu and Demario Davis should be on the block, among others.
For First Time in Mahomes Era, the Chiefs Won't Make AFC Title Game
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The Kansas City Chiefs always seem to find a way, but that doesn't mean it's going to keep happening annually. Eventually, you run into the wrong team at the wrong time, or injuries and/or general attrition catch up to you.
And in 2024, it feels as though that will eventually happen with the Chiefs. There's a reason why nobody has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls.
This team has suffered so many losses, and it's prey with a target on its back. Since the start of last season, only one quarterback has thrown more interceptions than Patrick Mahomes, who ranks 17th among 34 qualified passers with a 91.8 passer rating. Travis Kelce isn't the same, and there isn't a lot else beyond that.
It's going to hit them, likely against the Ravens, Texans or Bills. And likely even before they book their regular ticket to the AFC Championship Game.
Aaron Rodgers Will Quit On the Jets
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The Davante Adams experiment likely won't save a team that is 2-4, or a 40-year-old quarterback who is currently the league's sixth-lowest rated passer and hasn't been elite since 2021.
The pressure will mount, Aaron Rodgers will become more frustrated and a man who already appeared to lack commitment before it all hit the fan will likely find a way to escape.
It's been a gut feeling of mine since the end of the 2023 season, and nothing in these first six weeks has changed that.
Pretty soon, we'll have seen the last of Rodgers in New York and possibly the NFL altogether.
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.jpg?w=480 "49ers Eagles Football")
