NFL 2024 biggest storylines: Aaron Rodgers, Caleb Williams and the Kansas City Chiefs offense

The return of Aaron Rodgers, the arrival of Caleb Williams and a hot seat in Dallas – we look at some of the biggest storylines heading into the 2024 NFL season…

Aaron Rodgers in New York 2.0

Let’s try this again, shall we? The New York Jets entered the 2023 campaign purring with long-lost hutzpah, gleaming with postseason potential behind their top tier defense, cast of young talent and, of course, the four-time MVP quarterback they had acquired from the Green Bay Packers.

Those hopes would fade four plays into the opening game of the season as Aaron Rodgers suffered a year-ending Achilles injury, paving the way for a season of Zach Wilson-spearheaded disappointment. The Jets finished the 2023 campaign 7-10 to extend the NFL’s longest active losing streak while continuing their wait on a return to the Super Bowl for the first time since defeating Don Shula’s Baltimore Colts in January 1969.

But Rodgers is back, albeit at the age of 40, to pull the strings to an offense blessed with young talent in running back Breece Hall and star receiver Garrett Wilson, having also added veteran wideout Mike Williams and upgraded the offensive line with tackles Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses and first-round rookie Olu Fashanu. Despite the team’s troubles, the Jets still ranked third in EPA/play last season. If Rodgers can orchestrate something close to a top 10 offense, a long-awaited return to the playoffs could be in sight.

What version of the Chiefs offense will we see?

The Chiefs have a proclivity for dishing out kicks to the teeth. 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 biggest teeth kick yet arrived last season as they snatched an unlikely second straight Super Bowl behind a rampant Steve Spagnuolo Trent McDuffie-patrolled, L’Jarius Sneed-ignited, Chris Jones-inspired defense that had duck-taped over the offensive averageness close rivals had been praying for. Their most ominous portrayal of inevitability yet. Chiefs averageness is a little different to normal averageness when No 15 is back there.

For the first time since Mahomes took over as starter in 2018 the Chiefs offense ranked lower than sixth in yards, while also falling to 15th in points having failed to put up more than 20 points in four of six games across November and December (not very Chiefsy). They dropped to 11th in EPA/play, their receivers were guilty of the most dropped catches in the league and Travis Kelce was held below 1,000 yards for the first time since 2015.

This offseason they sought the kind of explosiveness Mahomes’ armoury had lacked last year, drafting 40-yard dash record-breaker Xavier Worthy and adding veteran Hollywood Brown, bolstering a receiving group in which Rashee Rice had impressed as a rookie and complementing Isiah Pacheco as he stomps through some of the NFL’s most accomplished interior blockers.

Sneed may have left an unnerving void upon departing in the offseason, but the Chiefs still don one of the league’s most inventive defensive schemes. Turn the notch up ever so slightly again on offense and they could be even scarier, if that is possible/legal.

The new face of Chicago

There is new hope in Chicago, where rookie quarterback Caleb Williams fronts a fresh era of optimism for the Bears after being selected with the first overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. The former USC man succeeds Justin Fields, now of the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the latest superstar playmaker to emerge from college and a quarterback prospect as highly-anticipated and as highly-regarded as the likes of Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck.

His skillset is tailor-made to the NFL’s modern dual-threat demands and the reason he has drawn comparisons to Patrick Mahomes such is his mobility to manipulate the pocket, such is his ability to create off-script, such is his ability to escape pressure.

His arm talent passes the eye test with the precision and power to attack all levels of the field, fizzing quick-release passes into short and intermediate avenues as well as comfortably taking the top off a defense to flip the field in one play. He looms as the ultimate playmaker, armed with the Mahomes-esque gift to improvise through absurd arm angles with which to squeeze passes through traffic and around bodies.

General manager Ryan Poles went out this offseason to ensure his new prized asset was walking into a situation to succeed. He traded for veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen – one of the league’s most gifted separators – signed pass-catching running back D’Andre Swift and tight end Gerald Everett, and drafted defense-dwarfing rookie wideout Rome Odunze with the ninth pick out of Washington.

DJ Moore returns for his second season after putting up a career-high 1,364 yards in 2023 as Chicago’s downfield flyer, the Bears are loaded with youth across their offensive line, and Matt Eberflus has built a defense that ranked top 10 over the second half of last season. Expectations just got a little higher for a team with just one winning season in the last decade.

Can King Henry inspire a Ravens Super Bowl charge?

It made perfect sense, right? Longevity-defiant bulldozer meets headache-inciting expansion on offense. The Baltimore Ravens leveled up again this offseason when 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 era of committee backfields and dual-threat runners, Henry has swatted away running back narratives with five 1,000-yard campaigns in his last six, in between which he still managed 937 yards in an eight-game 2021 season cut short by injury. Twice in that period he led the league in rushing yards, notably surpassing 2,000 yards in 2020, while leading all backs in carries four times since 2019.

No longer is it the run-dominant Greg Roman scheme of the past awaiting him, the kind that would have relished a Lamar Jackson-Derrick Henry backfield tandem of torment, but perhaps that is the conundrum facing Baltimore’s close contenders.

Instead he joins a Todd Monken offense, one designed to accentuate the passing talents of its quarterback more frequently with more three-receiver personnel groups. With that comes the defensive conundrum: fill the box to suffocate Henry up front and sacrifice personnel against a pass-catching group of Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews, or play light and drop into high coverages to combat the pass while inviting the run. Henry was THE offense in Tennessee, and even then foiling him proved difficult. Cue pick-your-poison carnage in Baltimore.

Granted, Baltimore haven’t just abandoned the run under offensive coordinator Monken; they still ranked third in rush EPA and led the league in rushing yards per game last season behind the NFL’s best rushing quarterback in Jackson. They also, though, haven’t operated with a bell-cow back since Ray Rice from 2009-2013. For all their rushing potency, ground control was an area in which they were frustrated by Spagnuolo’s Chiefs during their playoff defeat, ending a season across which they had been dominant. Henry presents a remedy to as much.

The Kirk Cousins factor

The Atlanta Falcons are all in. The cavalry have arrived and expectations are soaring after an offseason in which owner Arthur Blank and General Manager Terry Fontenot accelerated the franchise’s pursuit of a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Atlanta replaced Arthur Smith with Raheem Morris at head coach, before 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 acquiring what they hope to be an answer to years of uncertainty under center since Matt Ryan.

Cousins has long-been among the league’s most polarising quarterbacks, consistently producing the numbers of a top half quarterback without ever really inspiring perennial Super Bowl contention. He led Minnesota to the playoffs on just two occasions and is notably coming off an Achilles tear, which saw him miss rare time through injury. For all the qualms and queries over his postseason credentials, Cousins is a proven operator with the ability to maximise talent, of which there is plenty in Atlanta.

He enters an offense anchored by one of the NFL’s most dynamic weapons in running back Bijan Robinson, with a 1,000-yard receiver in-waiting in Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts and offseason addition Darnell Mooney for company alongside one of the league’s best offensive lines.

He also teams up with first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, whose experience under Sean McVay should offer some familiarity following Cousins’ time with the latter in Washington. It’s win-now time for the Falcons.

Quarterbacks returning from injury

Rodgers isn’t the only marquee quarterback primed to make a comeback. Joe Burrow, sporting newly-bleached Slim Shady hair, returns to spearhead a Cincinnati Bengals charge as one of the more qualified combatants to the Mahomes reign of dominance. Cincinnati had been among the favourites to make a return to the Super Bowl last season before Burrow suffered a year-ending wrist injury against Baltimore in Week 11.

The Bengals retained Tee Higgins to preserve one of the league’s most dangerous receiving duos alongside Ja’Marr Chase, fortified their offensive line with veteran right tackle Trent Brown, add tight end help via former Dolphin Mike Gesicki and introduced Zack Moss, coming off a career-year, as a replacement for running back Joe Mixon. A healthy Burrow thrusts them straight back into contention.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is meanwhile poised for his first full season as starter after seeing his rookie year cut short by a shoulder injury in Week Five, until which point there had been early signs of a perfect fit within Shane Steichen’s Colts offense. Without Richardson the Colts managed a 9-8 season to marginally miss out on the playoffs. Now they welcome back one of the most explosive two-way athletes to test at the position as he continues his development.

Deshaun Watson returns from a season-ending shoulder injury having seen Joe Flacco and the league’s best defense lead the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs; Justin Herbert returns from a year-ending finger injury to lead the Los Angeles Chargers in their first year under Jim Harbaugh; Daniel Jones enters a make-or-break season with the New York Giants (feels like we have said that before) on the back of suffering a torn ACL.

Are Houston here to stay?

The Houston Texans became one of the stories of the 2023 campaign as they mounted a stunning run to the playoffs, finishing 10-7 in the regular season and beating the Browns on Wild Card weekend before eventually coming up short against the Ravens in the Divisional Round.

At the heart of their season was rookie quarterback CJ Stroud, who diced NFL defenses with expert precision, masterful touch and veteran-esque anticipation amid a blossoming relationship with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik on his way towards winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.

It marked progress ahead of schedule under head coach DeMeco Ryans, who had meanwhile come across from the San Francisco 49ers to propel the Texans offense from bottom three to top half in the league, within which edge rusher Will Anderson Jr also claimed Defensive Rookie of the Year.

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

If Diggs’ arrival wasn’t clear indication of a belief in contention sooner than expected, the Texans also signed defensive lineman Denico Autry and edge rusher Danielle Hunter. The AFC’s contenders have a new problem to deal with.

Is the Bills’ window still open?

The Buffalo Bills have been banging, not just knocking, at the door. Over the last four years they have won four successive AFC East titles, lost an AFC Championship Game and suffered three straight Divisional Round eliminations, three of those four defeats coming at the hands of Mahomes and the Chiefs, including the infamous ’13 seconds’ game.

Things had been heading south last season when they found themselves 6-6 entering their Week 13 bye, only for Sean McDermott’s side to finish the season on a six-game winning streak that suddenly had them pitted as one of the most dangerous teams in the playoffs. Then they ran into Mahomes, Spagnuolo and the Chiefs.

There was high-profile change in Buffalo during the offseason as Diggs was traded to the Texans, with Josh Allen’s receiving core now led by Khalil Shakir – who teased breakout signs in 2023 – rookie Keon Coleman, veteran Curtis Samuel and tight end duo Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid, the latter of whom emerged as a trusted target in his rookie campaign. Between last year’s wobbles – which would amount to the mid-season firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey – and heightened competition in the AFC, the walls are closing in ever so slightly.

But with Allen remains a season reveller in carnage, a two-way wrecking ball capable of torpedoing your best laid plans on the ground or flipping the field with one dunk-on-them bomb. With Allen and a top 10 defense in tact, they can challenge. But both expectations and projections feel more obscure.

The new head coaches

Marquee changes on the sideline were afoot during the offseason, particularly in Hollywood as Jim Harbaugh made his long-awaited return to NFL coaching by trading in his College National Championship-winning Michigan for the task of leading Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers towards glory. Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler all departed as central figures to the Chargers offense, while J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards reunited with new offensive coordinator Greg Roman in view of a more potent ground threat than last season.

Joe Alt was also drafted with the fifth overall pick as a potential cornerstone at offensive tackle alongside Rashawn Slater and Zion Johnson. It is a rebuild job of sorts, headed by a star quarterback but a young receiver group, along with a defense that underperformed miserably last year despite its talent.

The New England Patriots embark on a new era in 2024 as they begin life under first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, who takes over from Bill Belichick following his departure after 24 seasons. Belichick’s exit came in the wake of a 4-13 finish to the campaign, at the heart of which had been an offensive capitulation that would lead the Patriots to North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall pick at the Draft.

Elsewhere, Dave Canales is the man tasked with overseeing the development of 2022 No 1 pick Bryce Young following his gruelling rookie year with the Carolina Panthers, having just helped Baker Mayfield revive his career in Tampa. Mike Macdonald leads the post-Pete Carroll era in Seattle as one of the NFL’s defensive masterminds, while Dan Quinn is back in a top job with the Washington Commanders as one of eight head coach appointments this past cycle.

Dak, Dallas and a hot seat?

How very Dallas Cowboys it was of them. You could almost see it coming. Jordan Love, the Green Bay Packers and the youngest offense in the league riding a surprise run to the playoffs, versus the league’s best scoring offense led by a sizzling Dak Prescott and with Dan Quinn’s Micah Parsons-inspired defense nestled in the top five.

The Cowboys had gone 12-5 in the regular season to cruise to the NFC East title, only to find themselves trailing 27-0 in the first half of their Divisional Round clash, by the end of which Matt LaFleur’s Packers had run out 48-32 winners.

How quickly Super Bowl contention transformed into intense pressure on the future of head coach Mike McCarthy, whose job Jerry Jones would later elect to spare in the offseason. He now faces another year of scrutiny as Dallas resume their agonising pursuit of a first Super Bowl berth since lifting the Lombardi Trophy after victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of the 1995 season.

One portion of business was sorted at the end of preseason when the Cowboys made wide receiver CeeDee Lamb the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, while both Prescott and Parsons still await their coveted pay days.

They have meanwhile lost defensive string-puller Dan Quinn to Washington, seen pick-six merchant DaRon Bland ruled out for up to eight weeks, lost offensive tackle Tyson Smith, bid farewell to Tony Pollard and seen linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, while Trevon Diggs returns from injury. McCarthy’s seat is burning.

Big shoes to fill in Philly

One of the unsung storylines of the season comes at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Philadelphia Eagles begin life without stalwart center Jason Kelce following his retirement from the NFL after 13 years earlier this offseason. Kelce had been the centrepiece to one of the league’s most accomplished offensive lines, with unerring reliability in pass protection and serving as the most dominant lane-ploughing run game architect in his position.

The Eagles had consulted at length with Kelce when it came to drafting a center in 2022, the seven-time Pro Bowl playing an instrumental role in picking out Cam Jurgens as an ideal successor upon his retirement. Jurgens was taken out of Nebraska with the 51st pick in the second round before backing up Kelce as a rookie and then starting 11 games at right guard last season.

He now shifts across to centre stage in an offensive line that played a defining role in one of the league’s most efficient short-yardage units, with a new star name for whom to clear the path in Saquon Barkley following his introduction in free agency.

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