Going into the 2024 NFL Season, The Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, and Tennessee Titans appear to be on the outside looking in. The sportsbooks and experts are predicting them all to miss the playoffs and at most win 6 games. We will break down how accurate those predictions might be.
The Broncos are coming into the season with an over/under win total at 5.5 with more having them falling into a potential top-five pick next year. I can't get behind that. Orage-colored sunglasses or not, the Broncos simply will not go from an 8-win team with a bottom 5 offense to a potential 5-win team the next year. They've made a change at quarterback and have improved in the pass-catching department. At least, on paper for now. Which adds to the questionable number of 5.5. There simply is too much talent combined with hall-of-fame coaching ability for this team to bottom out and win less than 5 games.
The Arizona Cardinals were one of the most interesting teams this past year. They didn't start with their starting quarterback as Kyler Murray battled back from his knee injury the season prior. But, they were extremely competitive in every game they played. It ultimately ended in a 4-13 record but if you look closer, five of their 13 losses were one-score games. They've added arguably the best wide receiver prospect in recent memory along with six other top 100 selections in the same draft. With a second year under head coach Jonathan Gannon and Murray back to full health, 6.5 wins just seems too low for an NFC team with this caliber of players.
https://t.co/C2v5DRlTYx has the Arizona Cardinals as a bottom tier team in their post NFL Draft power rankings.
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) May 2, 2024
Heavily sleeping on Kyler Murray and the Cards. pic.twitter.com/fGAW4fwoGE
Finally, the Titans. When they made the ground-shaking move of letting Mike Vrabel go explore other options, most people, including myself were stunned, to say the least. But they stuck to their plan and have quietly made a lot of really nice moves this offseason. They brought in Tony Pollard from Dallas and brought in Broncos' own in Lloyd Cushenberry to snap the ball to their quarterback of the future Will Levis.
The Titans selected arguably the best offensive tackle in the draft, JC Latham from Alabama, to protect Levis. They then paired Hopkins with a running mate in Calvin Ridley who came over from a short stint in Jacksonville. It doesn't end there either. They traded for one of the league's best cornerbacks from the reigning Super Bowl champs in Kansas City's L'Jarius Sneed.
What they're saying about @Titans first round pick JC Latham @TKJaayy.
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) May 1, 2024
"He was my No.1 tackle on the board. ... He is a mauler, and he has the attitude to let you know he is there to whip you time in and time out."
READ https://t.co/G3ZpHlhsZm pic.twitter.com/jY8xTLDpDO
There is a lot of news in Nashville and more often than not, new doesn't always mean wins but in this case, if Levis is the real deal, Tennessee just made too many good moves to not win more than 6 games. This is the one pick I'm at minimum concerned about because of how many moving parts there are but the potential is there in what looks to be the most dominant division in all of football.