Happy Fourth of July, NFL fans! It’s Tyler Sullivan here and, if you know me, I’m a disciple of Bill Belichick as a follower of the New England Patriots. What does that mean? No. Days. Off. And that includes the Fourth of July. Don’t worry, I have a cookout this afternoon, but I, of course, needed to give you guys all the latest happenings in the NFL before the grill can be sparked up.
Not only does the holiday celebrate the birthday of America, but it also brings us one step closer to the country’s favorite sport: football. We are just weeks away from teams opening up training camp and, believe it or not, less than a month away from the Hall of Fame Game kicking off.
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1. Chiefs, Jets headline key remaining storylines of 2024
Believe it or not, we’re already halfway through 2024. As we reach the midway point of the year, CBSSports.com decided to look down the road and see what could be in store for us in the second half of 2024 specifically as it relates to the sports calendar. Various writers were asked about their niche spots, including myself who was tasked with identifying two NFL-related storylines to look forward to. I landed on the Chiefs attempt for the NFL’s first-ever three-peat and the looming return of Aaron Rodgers from his torn Achilles.
Will the Chiefs set themselves up for a three-peat? Is it crazy to say that the back-to-back Super Bowl champions got better? Well, on the offensive side of the ball Kansas City certainly set itself up this offseason for a possible three-peat. After the wide receiver room was plagued by drops, the Chiefs double-dipped at the position this offseason bringing aboard Marquise Brown in free agency and using their first-round pick on Xavier Worthy. Not only does that raise the ceiling of the wideout room, but both pass catchers are flat-out burners. That reinjects an element to the K.C. offense that hasn’t been felt since the days of Tyreek Hill. Pair that upgrade with the fact that the Chiefs retained defensive tackle Chris Jones and you’re looking at this team continuing to be in the thick of the Super Bowl conversation
Will Aaron Rodgers stay healthy long enough to live up to the hype with the Jets? If everything goes right, the Jets have the structure of a team that can go on a deep playoff run. However, the elephant in the room is that they have a 40-year-old quarterback coming off of a season-ending Achilles injury. How Rodgers bounces back (or doesn’t) could end up being a defining note of the 2024 season. New York did a splendid job this offseason solidifying arguably its biggest weakness along the offensive line, adding three starting-caliber tackles. If they create a wall in front of Rodgers, the four-time MVP has weapons in place to pick apart defenses. And even if Rodgers is only 80% of his former self, that’s better than any quarterback the Jets have had in decades. If he can’t recreate the magic, it’s the latest chapter in what has been a sad state of affairs for the franchise at the position.
If you’re interested in the other non-NFL storylines to watch out for to wrap up 2024, click the link here.
2. Tom Brady reveals one of his biggest regrets from legendary career
You’d think that after being the winningest player in NFL history and widely considered the greatest of all time you’d have zero regrets about how your career panned out. Well, that’s not exactly the case for Tom Brady. The legendary quarterback recently appeared on “The Pivot” podcast and acknowledged that one of the biggest regrets from his 23-year career was possibly taking the game a bit too seriously.
“What I would have changed was … when I see these young players, I see Patrick (Mahomes) out there at quarterback, running around, having fun, I’m like, ‘I used to be like that! What the hell happened to me?'” said Brady. “I just got too serious. But again, I can only look back and think, ‘OK, if I do it again — which I’ll never do it again — I would be different, but the reality is that you can’t. So you just learn from it and go, ‘OK, in the next phase of life, enjoy it a little more.'”
One could argue that Brady’s seriousness did help fuel him to seven Super Bowl titles during his career, but it’s never a bad thing to let loose and have some fun every now and again, so this is a reasonable acknowledgment. In any event, Brady can’t be upset with how things ultimately turned out for him as he’s a no-doubt Hall of Famer and arguably the best ever.
3. Ranking the top 25 players in NFL history
With this being the slow period on the NFL calendar, it’s given us some time to dive into various projects. The latest from Bryan DeArdo is the daunting task of ranking the top 25 players in NFL history. While you may think it’s an easy exercise, you’d be mistaken. Each of these legends that DeArdo mentions has a case to be at the very top of this list and the splitting of hairs is like microscopic surgery when looking at these résumés. Nevertheless, an order needs to be rolled out and that’s exactly what we have below.
Here’s a look at DeArdo’s top five:
- Tom Brady, QB (2000-2022)
- Jerry Rice, WR (1985-2004)
- Jim Brown, RB (1957-1965)
- Walter Payton, RB (1975-1987)
- Peyton Manning, QB (1998-2015)
One thing you might be noticing is that there are no defensive players inside of DeAdro’s top five. Well, he has New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor as his greatest defensive player ever and the pass rusher lands at No. 6.
DeArdo on Taylor: Taylor was so dominant as a rookie that he won both Defensive Rookie of the Year and NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors. Five years later, Taylor won league MVP while leading the Giants to their first Super Bowl title. Taylor’s ferocious pass rush revolutionized the game while making left tackle one of the league’s most important positions.
To read the entire top 25 list, click here.
4. Fourth of July: NFL teams with the most fireworks entering 2024 season
Of course, we had to get a little festive on the Fourth of July, so our Cody Benjamin went through the league and identified nine teams that have the most fireworks entering the 2024 season. As you might expect, “American’s Team” in the Dallas Cowboys landed on Cody’s list, but only at the No. 3 spot.
Dallas Cowboys: Since when has Jerry Jones’ franchise not been synonymous with NFL fireworks, for better or worse? Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy are both under the microscope as Jones looks for playoff results, but the talent is still there on both sides of the ball, particularly out wide and off the edge, to make a splashy difference.
As for the top spot, we go down to South Beach where the Miami Dolphins are atop Cody’s list.
Miami Dolphins: When you think fireworks, you think explosions. And Miami is without a doubt the most electric team when it comes to sheer offensive firepower, boasting track stars at both running back (De’Von Achane) and wideout (Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle), with Odell Beckham Jr. added to the mix for good measure. Throw in pressure on Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel to finally get over the hump in a big spot, and you’ve got yourself must-see TV.
While you wait for the hot dogs to get off the grill, check out the entire list of teams here.
5. 2024 NFC West race: Can anyone challenge the 49ers?
The NFC West has routinely been one of the toughest divisions in the league, but the San Francisco 49ers have recently gained an edge over their rivals. The Niners have won back-to-back division titles and claimed the NFC West in three of the last five seasons. Not only that, but the franchise has at least reached the NFC Championship in each of the last two seasons as well. With that in mind, CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell dove into this division to see how the other clubs could unseat San Fran in 2024.
Here’s Podell’s synopsis of how the Seattle Seahawks could enter the NFC West conversation:
Seattle long had the oldest head coach in the NFL, but now it has the league’s youngest after hiring Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald (age 36) to lead its squad. His 2023 Ravens unit became the first in NFL history to lead or co-lead the league in scoring defense (16.5 points per game allowed), sacks (60) and takeaways (31, tied for first with the New York Giants). Now he is tasked with rebuilding a Seahawks defense that ranked 25th in scoring defense two years in a row, including a 23.6 points per game average in 2023 (23.6 points per game).
Seattle was 30th in total defense (371.4 total yards per game), and much of that damage came on the ground where it ranked 31st in rushing yards per game allowed (138.4), ahead of only the Cardinals (143.2 rushing yards per game allowed). That’s why they spent the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II. The second-team All-American was solid against the run, and his 17% quarterback pressure was the highest for any defensive tackle in college football last season.
Offensively, the Seahawks have the weapons to contend. Wide receiver DK Metcalf earned his second career Pro Bowl selection in 2023 with another 1,000-yard receiving season (1,114) while ranking in percentage of catches that went for either a first down or a touchdown (78.8%) and fourth in yards per catch (16.9). The steady Tyler Lockett remains, 2023 first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba enters his second NFL season, and Kenneth Walker is ever elusive (his 76 tackles avoided were the third-most in the NFL last season).
If Seattle can do a better job protecting quarterback Geno Smith — its 40.2% quarterback pressure rate allowed was the eighth-worst in NFL — and play a stronger brand of defense across the board, the Seahawks could be a threat in the NFC West in 2024.
To read Podell’s case for the rest of the division, click here.
6. Extra points: Giants considered D’Andre Swift in free agency
Want more NFL news? Here are some other noteworthy headlines from across the league:
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Author: Tyler Sullivan
July 4, 2024 | 1:20 pm
