Everything we learned during the 2024 NFL season

With the Super Bowl in the books, we take a look back at how the league's landscape changed in 2024

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By Matthew Coller

Oh, 2024 NFL season, you went by in a flash. It feels like only yesterday that we were just getting excited for the opening kickoff back in September. Alas, we are officially in the offseason so let’s take a look back at all of the things we learned from this season with the Vikings and across the NFL….

KOC put his name among the best coaches in the NFL

Heading into the 2024 season, Vikings ownership did not offer a contract extension to O’Connell, presumably because they were coming off a 7-10 year and wanted to see where the franchise would stand at the end of O’Connell’s first year without Kirk Cousins. The head coach answered all questions with a 14-win season in which he guided Sam Darnold through a career year and gave confidence to the notion that the franchise can build around its future franchise QB JJ McCarthy. The Vikings agreed to a multi-year extension with O’Connell. Now there are no questions about the future of the coaching in Minnesota.

Sam Darnold proved that he could do it

Before arriving in the Twin Cities, Darnold was known as one of the biggest draft disappointments of the last decade. His defenders argued that he was let down by his previous franchises in New York and Carolina and just needed a chance with good coaching and a strong supporting cast. Of course, even the most rosy preseason projections of Darnold’s 2024 season never would have expected him to lead the team to the second best record in the NFC with 35 touchdowns, a 102.5 QB rating an the 8th best PFF grade among quarterbacks. No matter what happens from here with Darnold’s future, he showed that he always had the talent to thrive in the NFL.

Jonathan Greenard became an elite player

The former Texan had a 12.5 sack season before signing with the Vikings but he hadn’t played over 650 snaps in a single season before. In 2024, he played 916 snaps and finished in the top three in QB pressures. His numbers were reflective of the top pass rushers in the league, including Danielle Hunter, who he replaced. With Greenard in his prime (he will be 28 next year), it appears the Vikings have a long-term top-notch player at one of the league’s most valuable positions for years to come.

Brian Flores sent a message, still did not get a head coaching job

After making a strong first impression in 2023, Flores raised the bar in 2024 with a top-five defense. Combining his creativity schematically with his gift for talent evaluation, the Vikings rolled out a unit that was able to handle the complexities of the playbook and make game-changing plays. Flores also took his cues from O’Connell and brought the defense together from a culture perspective, which was a diversion from his reputation in Miami. The Vikings DC received head coaching interviews but was not hired. Getting him back is a big win for the Vikings.

The Vikings interior O-line shuffling reached a breaking point

A decade of struggles with the guard position appear to finally have inspired the Vikings to spend in free agency on the interior of the offensive line. Since signing Alex Boone in 2016, the most money the Vikings spent at the guard spot was adding Josh Kline on a three-year, $15.75 million deal that ended up being one year, $5.7 million. Along the way, they drafted two guards that didn’t reach a second contract, moved multiple tackles (Mike Remmers, Ezra Cleveland, Oli Udoh, Blake Brandel) to guard and took shots on journeyman backups (Dakota Dozier, Tom Compton). Following the Vikings loss to the Rams in the playoffs, O’Connell pointed to the need for a cleaner pocket in front of the quarterback as a major priority this offseason. It so happens that there are a number of quality guards in free agency.

Patrick Mahomes is still king, Lamar and Josh will continue to wait

Most of the regular season was spent debating whether Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson would be the MVP as the best QB of the generation plodded along winning every game by a few points en route to a 15-1 record. Mahomes and the Chiefs then knocked off up-and-comer CJ Stroud and Allen in the playoffs. An argument can be made that Mahomes has not played the best regular season football since 2022 when he threw for over 5,200 yards but he posted a 105.2 QB rating in two playoff games to bring Kansas City to the Super Bowl so his “best QB in the NFL” crown will remain for at least another year.

The Eagles and Lions are the gold standard for roster building

We entered the season expecting Philly and Detroit to be serious contenders but throughout 2024 it became clear that these two NFC powerhouses had even more strength in their rosters than expected. The Eagles crushed their draft by bringing in two young star cornerbacks and saw DT Jalen Carter become a star. The Lions had one of their recent first-round draft picks Jameson Williams take a huge step forward too. Over the past few seasons they have both stacked up around a proven QB by hitting on draft picks and making quality signings. They will both enter next season as NFC favorites because of that.

We still don’t really know how good Jordan Love is, Packers had a WR1 wake-up call

On the first night of the season for the Packers, Jordan Love got banged up. When he returned Week 4 against the Vikings, he wasn’t quite the same and then got injured again. He ended up having a fine season, going 9-6 with 25 touchdowns and ranking as PFF’s 15th best QB. From mid-November to the end of the season he registered a 110.0 QB rating, giving Packers fans some confidence that he was getting back to the late-2023 version but a three-interception showing in the playoffs left plenty of questions about whether he is going to reach the heights of a QB worth $50 million per year.

The jury is still out on Caleb Williams but the Bears are in a better place

Chicago was hyped up last offseason to the point that it seemed that everyone expected Caleb Williams to take his team to the playoffs right away. Instead he had a ton of rookie moments, getting sacked 68 times and losing 10 straight in the middle of the year. But the Bears’ failures might end up paying off in the long run. They moved on from struggling head coach Matt Eberflus and hiring Lions offensive guru Ben Johnson to call the plays for Williams. Still, the Bears have to be concerned with Williams’s inability to get rid of the football that was reminiscent of David Carr.

Jayden Daniels is a problem, so are the Commanders

The former LSU star put together one of the best rookie seasons of all time in 2024, ranking 10th in QB rating, scoring 31 total touchdowns and rushing for 891 yards. That was just the regular season. He was excellent in the playoffs, leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship. The NFC may have its Allen or Jackson, especially considering that Washington has cap space to spend and the bones of a roster to build around Daniels. He is also going to keep his offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury for at least another year. The Commanders will be among the favorites to reach the Super Bowl next year.

Running backs are relevant again

Is the running back truly back or was it just a product of Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley having such incredible seasons that it only seemed that way? Well, there were 16 RBs who went for over 1,000 yards this season, which is the most since 2012. In 2020, there were just eight RBs who went over 1,000. With defenses playing deep safeties to prevent explosive plays and getting smaller at the linebacker position, offenses have more space with which to run the ball. Teams who are capable of doing it — particularly when paired with running QBs — got a huge advantage this season. Three of the final four teams were in the top five in rushing EPA. Add that with recent first-round RBs emerging as stars and several more expected in this year’s draft and, yes, the bell cow running back has returned.

One-score game theories might not be what they’re cracked up to be

In the past, a very basic way of figuring out whether a team was as strong as their record looked on paper was by taking note of how often they won by one score. If a team was surviving on close wins, they were usually bound to regress. There still might be some power in that metric but the NFL saw record-setting numbers of one-score games in 2024 and teams like the Chiefs kept coming out on top over and over. With the competition being as close as ever on a weekly basis, we might have to accept that being good at winning tight games is a skill, not just a coin flip.

The Jets selling their soul for Rodgers didn’t work

Hours before the Super Bowl, every NFL Insider reported that the Jets are finished with Aaron Rodgers. His tenure will be remembered as nothing short of an enormous failure. An Achilles injury cost him the 2023 season and he struggled in 2024 with just five wins in 17 starts, a 90.5 QB rating 6.7 yards per attempt. Both the Jets head coach and GM ended up being fired as a result of his poor play and New York wasted two years of talented rosters. Now they will have to deal with the salary cap implications of cutting him. Yikes.

Jim Harbaugh still has it

The Chargers got back on track with Harbaugh returning to the NFL for the first time since 2014. They finished 11-6 and quarterback Justin Herbert played some of his most efficient football with a 101.7 QB rating and top five finish in PFF grade. In the playoffs, the Chargers’ weaknesses reared their head and they were blown out by the Texans but with the QB in place and some talent to build upon, LAC can find better weapons next year and take another step forward. The only question is whether Harbaugh played a run-first type old school offense because of the shortcomings at wide receiver or if that’s always going to always be his style, even with a top talent at QB. Of course, the run game is returning to popularity, so maybe he picked the right time to come back.

Sean Payton still has it

A lot of draft analysts thought Payton reached to draft Bo Nix but the former Oregon star proved in Year 1 that he could play well enough within Payton’s system to make the postseason. Nix especially started to get comfortable down the stretch, posting a 101.5 rating in the final six weeks of the season. Like the Chargers, Denver’s weapons are lacking. They will need to improve at receiver and running back significantly to put any pressure on Kansas City. But Payton showed that he can’t be overlooked as only having success with Drew Brees.

The Saints have reached woebegone status

Hiring Kellen Moore may end up being a good step for the New Orleans Saints but heading into 2025 there are few franchises that fall under the “down bad” category as safety as the Saints. Since Brees retired, they have gone 9-8, 7-10, 9-8 and 5-12. Last year Derek Carr got off to a hot start and then went down with an injury and the Saints floundered, ultimately firing head coach Dennis Allen. They head into this offseason with no clarity at the QB position, $54 million over the salary cap and they didn’t fail quite hard enough to pick at the top of the draft (they’re 9th). It might take a long time for them to dig out of this hole.