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And…they’re off!
Take a look at this impressive group of NFL bottom feeders heading into this weekend’s games.
AFC:
Miami Dolphins 2-6
New England Patriots 2-7
Cleveland Browns 2-7
Tennessee Titans 2-6
Jacksonville Jaguars 2-7
Las Vegas Raiders 2-7
NFC:
New York Giants 2-7
Carolina Panthers 2-7
New Orleans Saints 2-7
An incredible nine of the NFL’s 32 teams are now in a virtual sprint to the finish line in order to secure one of the top college football players in next spring’s draft.
The NFL’s trade deadline on Tuesday saw many of these losing teams shed one or more talented (but expensive) veteran players in deals made with playoff contenders.
Though a few of these franchises were expected to struggle again this season, the current group of nine laggards includes four teams which finished with winning records in 2023.
The Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins both posted 11-6 records last season and earned playoff spots. Jacksonville and New Orleans finished with solid 9-8 winning records last year, too.
Pro football fans in those four cities had high hopes for the 2024 season.
What has gone wrong with these former contenders?
1. New Orleans Saints
No team came out of the chute faster than this year’s Saints. The WhoDats raced out to a 47-10 demolition of the Carolina Panthers in Week #1 and went to Big D to destroy the Dallas Cowboys 44-19.
With this 2-0 start, Saints fans were practically giddy with the prospect of mounting a playoff run this season in the NFL.
Several key injuries started to pop-up. Perhaps the early-season offensive magic may have just been an illusion, too. The Saints new offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak, introduced a new bag of tricks (plays and schemes, that is) on opposing teams during the opening weeks.
NFL teams are notoriously quick to learn the opposing team’s tendencies and make defensive adjustments from week to week. In the past seven games (all losses), the Saints offense has averaged a paltry 16.6 points.
Unless your defense is as reliable as this year’s Pittsburgh Steelers, you won’t win many games without putting up more than 20 points per game in the NFL.
This week, the New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen after the team’s 7th straight loss.
He was in his third season in the Crescent City and posted a mediocre 18-25 record with the Saints. This was also his second head coaching job in the NFL. He was fired in 2014 from the Raiders after going 8-28.
Saints current quarterback Derek Carr was the rookie starting quarterback for the Raiders in 2014 as that team finished 3-13. His coach at the time, Dennis Allen, was fired after that season, too.
Fun fact! Saints quarterback Derek Carr is now the only NFL quarterback to have lost to 31 of the 32 teams in the league. On December 29, he gets the opportunity to make it 32-for-32 as the Saints play host to the Las Vegas Raiders (Carr’s former team).
2. Jacksonville Jaguars
Another team which was expected to be competing for a 2024 playoff spot was Jacksonville. The Jaguars have fallen behind by double digits early in several games this season. These slow starts have forced the offense to pass the ball more in an effort to catch-up.
In June, quarterback Trevor Lawrence signed a huge 5-year $275 million contract extension with Jacksonville. Making $55 million per season is great for the quarterback, but it represents nearly 25% of the team’s 53-man payroll.
The Jaguars’ defense is giving up the 3rd most points in the NFL this season. When the offense is forced to score more than 28 points just to have a chance to win, it generally spells doom in most games.
By the way, only Carolina (33 points/game allowed) and Dallas (28.1) have allowed more points per game this season than Jacksonville.
Sprinkle in some untimely injuries, and we now have another head coach on the hot seat. Doug Pederson is a former Northeast Louisiana (now UL-Monroe) quarterback. Unless his team turns around in the second half of the season, he is likely to be fired soon.
3. Cleveland Browns
The Browns have already lost more games (7) by the halfway point than they did in all of 2023. The 2024 Cleveland Browns appear to be waving the white flag of surrender.
This week, Cleveland traded one of their top defensive linemen (ZaDarius Smith) to the Detroit Lions for a lowly 5th round pick next spring. The 10-year veteran makes over $11 million per year, so Cleveland appears to be saving money for other potential off-season moves.
What caused this collapse on Lake Erie this year?
It might just be the bad karma associated with the Cleveland Browns giving up draft choices to Houston to sign quarterback Deshaun Watson three seasons ago.
You might remember that Watson put himself into legal hot water in Houston during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He was sued by 22 women for alleged sexual misconduct.
After spending millions to settle most of those civil suits, the Browns curiously bet their future on making a deal to acquire the former Texans’ quarterback in 2022.
In coming to Cleveland, Deshaun Watson signed a fully guaranteed 5-year contract for $230 million. In return, the Texans received Cleveland’s #1 draft picks in 2022, 2023, and 2024 plus a few other lower picks.
Houston utilized those draft picks to sign some very talented rookies and quickly improved their fortunes. The Texans returned to the playoffs in 2023 and are heading in that same direction this season, too.
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s football dreams have been shattered by Watson’s poor play and his frequent injuries.
The quarterback has gone just 9-10 as a starter for the Browns since 2022 and has yet to play in more than seven games in any one season due to injuries.
The Browns owe Deshaun Watson $92 million through the 2026 season. His current contract makes him virtually untradeable.
4. Miami Dolphins
Fin fans were licking their chops as the 2024 NFL season began.
After going 11-6 in 2023, this team was expected to challenge Buffalo for the top spot in the AFC East and contend for the conference championship.
After scoring more than 29 points per game last season, these 2024 Dolphins are averaging just about half of that total (15.5 ppg) through the first nine games.
The widely discussed and often concussed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered another head injury in Week #2. Miami lost four of its next five games.
Even after their starting quarterback came back, the Dolphins have dropped their last two games as well.
Unlike the other three teams discussed in this post, the Miami Dolphins have a favorable remaining schedule and could win several more games if they are able to improve their offensive output.
Miami’s head coach Mike McDaniel was considered one of the NFL’s top young coaches in the past two seasons. If the Dolphins don’t rally in the second half of the season, he might become a coaching casualty by January.
5. And…those other five teams
Let’s face it. The New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants, and Carolina Panthers had low expectations entering 2024.
They haven’t disappointed.
The New England Patriots picked a top college quarterback, Drake Maye, in last spring’s NFL draft. He has played quite well. The rest of the team has not. Give yourself a high-five if you can name even one starter on offense or defense for this year’s Patriots.
Tennessee Titans’ respected coach Mike Vrabel was fired after last season’s disappointing 6-11 finish. It is obvious that Vrabel wasn’t the problem as the Titans have continued to decline this season. Scoring just 17 points per game in 2024, the Tennessee Titans have also turned the ball over 17 times in eight games. That is a formula for a 2-6 team!
The Las Vegas Raiders are nearly identical to the Titans. The Raiders lead the league in turnovers (18 through their first nine games) and score a little more than 18 points per game. That explains their 2-7 record. The Raiders recently traded their top receiver (Davonta Adams) to the New York Jets. They are clearly tanking in 2024 in hopes of finding a new quarterback and/or wide receiver in next spring’s NFL draft.
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was the NFL Coach of the Year only two years ago in 2022. After turning the Giants from 4-13 into a 9-7 playoff team in 2022, the G-Men fell back to 6-11 in 2023. Star running back Saquan Barkley signed with NFC East rival Philadelphia in the off-season. The 2024 New York Giants have the lowest scoring offense (15 points per game) in the entire NFL. For some reason, quarterback Daniel Jones was signed to a 4-year $160 million extension in 2023. Fans of the Giants are ready to dump their generally ineffective quarterback and start over with a rookie signal caller in 2025.
The Carolina Panthers hoped that the #1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bryce Young, would become their quarterback for the next decade. Though Young is a talented player, he has taken a literal beating in Carolina his first two years. He could use a fresh start with a team which has a solid offensive line (Hello, Pittsburgh?). Expect the Panthers to “lay low” for the remainder of the season and limp to the finish line in hopes of landing another top quarterback next spring.
Which NFL team will succeed in losing the most games to secure the top college draft pick in 2025?
With another furlong to go, it’s shaping-up to be a real horse race (to remain the NFL’s worst team, that is) all the way to the finish line!