Our Frank Schwab counts down his NFL power rankings, rates each team’s offseason, asks for fantasy football tips, and looks ahead to 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 take on the Houston Texans.
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The Panthers hired a new head coach, Dave Canales, who is coming off a very good season as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator. He did wonders for the career of Baker Mayfield, who had to catch the Panthers’ interest. Carolina spent $153 million on guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, traded for receiver Diontae Johnson and drafted wide receiver Xavier Legette, running back Jonathon Brooks and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. Those were the first steps in helping QB Bryce Young reach his potential.
It’s not that the dark cloud has disappeared. Team owner David Tepper is still around, bothering bar owners who shoot at him, ready to make the Panthers change all their plans when he gets impatient to lose again. Young has a long way to go and may never come close to matching Stroud as a player or paying back what the Panthers gave up in that trade. The roster still has huge holes on both sides of the ball.
The Patriots selected 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 excited to trade up for that third overall pick should tell the Patriots that staying put and selecting Maye was the right thing to do. The Patriots need to replenish the roster, but you don’t turn down a potential franchise quarterback. New England’s rebuild becomes much easier if Maye is a hit.
Maye had many rumors. He was the QB1 in this draft class for Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports. He has the entire skill package to be successful, as long as his aggressive nature doesn’t become a big problem with turnovers. One problem is that the Patriots still haven’t done much to improve the offense around him. They tried to land free agent catcher 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 that could also be the quarterback situation” was probably more accurate. The Patriots are not a destination yet. That will take time. The first step has to be for Maye to become the type of QB that other players want to join forces with.
Rookie Bo Nix isn’t guaranteed to start Week 1, but he will 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 it. This is not a team primed to win anytime soon, even if the QB6 in this draft class is an immediate hit. That’s what happens when you pay top dollar for Russell Wilson and Sean Payton in trades. The Broncos somehow finished 8-9 last season because Payton is still an excellent head coach, but it will be a challenge this season, next season and maybe in 2026 as well.
None of this should have been a surprise. When Payton came aboard, everyone knew a complete meltdown was likely as the team suffered the consequences of cutting Wilson. One of these days, there will be something Broncos fans can celebrate besides the dusty memories of Peyton Manning and that 2015 team.
Getting a coach who was in demand, a general manager everyone wanted and a quarterback who virtually everyone took second in their draft class is a good offseason. 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 turnaround is that they got an unprecedented number of green lights. They hired a great head coach, DeMeco Ryans, who probably wouldn’t have looked his way if he had been drafted by another team a long time ago. They didn’t have the No. 1 pick in the draft, but CJ Stroud fell to them at No. 2 and ended up being perhaps the best rookie quarterback in NFL history. Many young players emerged at the same time. It’s hard to replicate all that.