Ranking the NFL Teams Most Likely to Find Success in 2024 Despite Uncertainty at QB
Ranking the NFL Teams Most Likely to Find Success in 2024 Despite Uncertainty at QB
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Can the Pittsburgh Steelers continue their current 20-season streak of posting a non-losing record? Dylan Buell/Getty Images
The quarterback position isn’t everything when it comes to the game of football. A total of 21 other starters take the field each week to help determine the eventual outcome of a contest. NFL teams can win without premium quarterback play.
Trent Dilfer, Joe Flacco and Nick Foles say hello.
But that approach is simply more difficult since the game is geared toward the offense while keeping quarterback’s upright, healthy and relatively unscathed. It’s easier to win with a premier quarterback, hence why the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes led the eight of the last 10 Super Bowl winners.
With the preseason coming to a close, six specific franchises can compete this fall despite uncertainty behind center. They’re good enough in other spots to maintain a certain standard. The quarterback position then becomes the X-factor, because quality play can still come from each of their options.
While those options aren’t elite, they can go all in to make a strong push toward the postseason and maybe more.
6. Las Vegas Raiders
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Las Vegas Raiders defenders Christian Wilkins (left) and Maxx Crosby (right)Chris Unger/Getty Images
The Las Vegas Raiders finished 8-9 last season. They did well enough down the stretch by winning three of their last four games that interim head coach Antonio Pierce earned the full-time position.
A season ago, Jimmy Garoppolo had to be benched and fourth-round rookie Aidan O’Connell ultimately started 10 games. The Raiders are only marginally better at quarterback after signing Gardner Minshew II, who has been named the starter. Yet a marginal improvement could yield significant results.
Now in his sixth season, everyone knows exactly who Minshew is. He’s short-range sniper with arm limitations and creativity that’s often as byproduct of getting skittish in the pocket. The good must be taken with the bad. But the Raiders can build around that approach.
The squad now features two talented receiving threats at tight end in Michael Mayer and this year’s 13th overall draft pick, Brock Bowers. Davante Adams remains an elite target. Zamir White will be thrust into a featured role after Josh Jacobs left in free agency to sign with the Green Bay Packers.
More importantly, the Raiders made a huge investment in defensive tackle Christian Wilkins to provide a dynamic inside-outside attack with defensive end Maxx Crosby.
Piece played nine seasons as a linebacker. He knows exactly how his squad is built and where it can excel.
“It’s the strength of our team,” Pierce said about his defense. “There’s no reason to lie about it.”
Minshew has the lowest ceiling of any quarterback on this list, and he’s far from acclaimed despite last year’s Pro Bowl appearance. Pierce will simply ask the veteran not to lose his team games. The approach is potentially good enough to push the Raiders toward a winning record this fall.
5. Minnesota Vikings
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Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin JeffersonStephen Maturen/Getty Images
The Minnesota Vikings find themselves in difficult position where the future seems bright, but they can’t look ahead to what could be.
Unfortunately, this year’s 11th overall draft pick, quarterback J.J. McCarthy, suffered a torn meniscus and required season-ending surgery. Vikings brass always intended for the rookie to sit for part of this season, but he’ll remain under the learning tree for the entirety of the campaign as he recovers.
McCarthy had significant upside in this offense despite concerns about limited opportunities at the collegiate level.
“I really believe that J.J. has kind of confirmed to me and a lot of our coaches and players that we got the right guy in the building for the future,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “And he did it in a short amount of time. That’s what makes this news hard. Because you know just how exciting it would have been as a daily, minute-to-minute process moving forward. But I think that optimism should be felt by anybody in our building and hopefully our fans.”
For now, Sam Darnold is behind center. Darnold is a former No. 2 overall pick, though he’s been with three different teams in the last three seasons.
Darnold is no longer a bridge, at least for the upcoming campaign. The things that made McCarthy’s potential so exciting coincide, in part, with Darnold’s. The Vikings cockpit is built so well for any quarterback. Minnesota likely finished far better than 7-10 last year if not for an Achilles injury to Kirk Cousins.
Wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, along with running back Aaron Jones, tight end T.J. Hockenson and a strong offensive line provides as good of a supporting cast as any quarterback could hope to have. Darnold may even start living up to his previous draft status.
4. Tennessee Titans
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Tennessee Titans quarterback Will LevisCooper Neill/Getty Images
The decline of the Tennessee Titans should stop this season, while tracking back with an upward trajectory.
After four-straight winning seasons and three playoff appearances under previous head coach Mike Vrabel, the Titans organization decided to go in a different direction after experiencing back-to-back losing campaigns.
Brian Callahan was brought in to lead the team. His impact is already being felt, particularly at the game’s most important position.
“He’s instilled a lot of confidence in me as a player,” quarterback Will Levis told reporters. “… He knew that I could be a great player in this league… to hear that from a dude who’s leading the charge was cool.”
Levis isn’t a known commodity. He’s a second-round draft selection entering his sophomore campaign. How he performs will go a long way to pull the Titans out of their recent spiral, with a swerve toward more prosperous times.
But general manager Ran Carthon understood the assignment this offseason and began to rebuild the offense by investing heavily in the offensive line with the free-agent signing of center Lloyd Cushenberry III and top-10 draft selection of left tackle JC Latham.
Veteran wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd also signed to take pressure off of DeAndre Hopkins. Ridley enters the lineup as WR1 after signing a four-year $92 million control, while Boyd rejoins Callahan after the latter served as the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator during the previous five seasons.
Furthermore, Callahan brought his father along with him. Bill Callahan just happens to be one of the best offensive line coaches walking the planet. The Titans had the league’s worst offensive line last season. With Callahan and the previously mentioned additions, Tennessee should be significantly stronger in the trenches.
3. Indianapolis Colts
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony RichardsonTodd Rosenberg/Getty Images
The Indianapolis Colts hope they’ve found a timeless talent in Anthony Richardson, as long as the 22-year-old develops to expected levels.
“He’ll make some huge plays for us this year,” head coach Shane Steichen told reporters after the Colts’ third preseason contest. “I think it’s going to be awesome and fun to watch.”
The comments came after concerns arose, because last year’s fourth overall pick looked phenomenal during the opening drive but faltered during the ensuing series, including a pick-six on what looked like a miscommunication with his tight end.
An understanding needs to materialize when discussing the developing prospect: Richardson has limited starting quarterback experience, with only four NFL games under his belt due to last year’s season-ending shoulder injury.
However, Richardson’s natural skill set and makeup provide an unlimited level of potential.
Richardson is a 6’4″, 250-plus-pound quarterback, with legit 4.4-second 40-yard-dash speed. Steichen will likely build an RPO-heavy offense around the uber-athlete to simplify reads as he learns, while maximizing his physical upside.
The Colts’ offense does feature significant talent, starting with standout running back Jonathan Taylor, a talented trio of wide receivers in Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs and rookie Adonai Mitchell, big and athletic tight ends and one of the game’s better offensive lines.
A microscope will be placed over Richardson this year. Every single pass and play will be dissected. Why? Because everyone understands what he could be. They also understand he has a long way to go.
“When it comes to people just talking, man, that don’t really phase me much,” Richardson said. “People been talking pretty much my whole life, so it’s like, ‘OK, (you’re) just adding fuel to the fire.’ I’m just gonna do me and keep doing me, no matter what anybody else say.”
2. Cleveland Browns
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Reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles GarrettCooper Neill/Getty Images
Three years have passed since Deshaun Watson was a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback leading the NFL in passing yardage. Yet the Cleveland Browns remain inextricably tied to their $230 million quarterback.
Since that point, he asked for a trade from the Houston Texans, sat for an entire season as accusations mounted of sexual misconduct (which were later settled outside of court), was traded to the Browns, received an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy, paid a $5 million fine and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during the 2023 campaign.
Currently, Watson is dealing with general arm soreness.
Cleveland paid a premium—both in trade and financial compensation—when luring Watson to the North Coast. He’s provided next-to-nothing since joining the squad. But the Browns don’t need glitz or glamour from the position. They simply need a solid performance.
Joe Flacco helped lead the team on a postseason run last season after signing in November. A 75-percent Watson is better than the aging veteran. Meanwhile, the Browns can lean on the league’s best defense and the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett.
Plus, Nick Chubb is expected back this season after last year’s season-ending injury.
But Watson is the key. The team made extensive changes to the offensive staff this offseason in an attempt to make the system more aligned with the quarterback’s skill set. He understands there is plenty of work to do.
“I only played 12 games in the last two years, so the chemistry and the timing, especially with a new system, that’s going to continue to grow and that’s going to continue to go as the reps continue to build up and throughout training camp and throughout the season,” Watson told reporters. “So it’s going to be fun to just continue to have that.”
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
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Pittsburgh Steelers defenders Cameron Heyward (left) and T.J. Watt (right)Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Steelers know how to win. In fact, the franchise hasn’t experienced a losing season since 2003. To understand how long ago that was, Bill Cowher still led the way as the team’s head coach and Ben Roethlisberger wouldn’t be drafted until the following April. Even so, the Steelers need to figure out what they have at quarterback.
The squad’s current signal-callers aren’t a pair of young bucks fresh from the draft like Roethlisberger when he got the franchise back on track.
Instead, the 35-year-old Russell Wilson is the favorite to take the reins, while Justin Fields is simply looking for another chance to start after failing to prove himself during his three seasons with the Chicago Bears.
“I want to see the fruit of the labor that I’ve seen out here on the practice field,” head coach Mike Tomlin said prior to Saturday’s preseason contest. “We’ve had some really awesome practice days and shown really good consistency and fundamentals and splash-play ability, but I haven’t seen it in stadium yet.”
Therein lies the problem. The Steelers offense previously lacked the ability to create splash plays, specifically in the pass game where Pittsburgh finished among the bottom 10 during the 2022 and ’23 campaigns.
Wilson is a clear upgrade over Kenny Pickett, with the veteran’s deep-passing touch and overall experience. If Fields is playing, he is a major running threat with a strong arm.
Either improves a squad with an opportunistic defense, including a motivated T.J. Watt after not winning last season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year. The unit also added Patrick Queen and cornerback Donte Jackson to improve both of those spots.
The AFC North will be a dog fight after each team finished with a winning record. Though the Steelers have the most room for improvement based on how bad their quarterback situation became.
