10 worst NFL rosters in 2024, including the New England Patriots and New York Giants

The Las Vegas Raiders have stars. Maxx Crosby is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, Davante Adams is a future Hall of Famer and Christian Wilkins has Pro Bowl talent. Even beyond those names, edge rusher Malcolm Koonce is one of the most underrated players in the NFL, linebacker Robert Spillane is a gem and there’s some talent on the offensive line. Las Vegas has one of the worst FL rosters in 2024 because its secondary, quarterback room and the depth behind its stars and unheralded starters leaves so much to be desired. Quarterback is the position that drags this down the most, but we would take the Raiders roster over other teams on our list by a long shot.

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Jim Harbaugh and Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz are cleaning up a left mess by Tom Telesco. What happens when your former GM only hits on first- and second-round picks is that a majority of the roster is rather barren. Los Angeles boasts an elite quarterback (Justin Herbert) and we think the Chargers might have a top-10 offensive line in 2024. Unfortunately for Herbert, the receiving corps, defense and running back room are all below-average or worse. Harbaugh and Hortiz will get this thing turned around, but the big changes won’t come until 2025.

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If we ranked the worst NFL rosters at the start of the offseason, the Tennessee Titans would be at the bottom. Credit to general manager Ran Carthon for a strong spring with the additions of L’Jarius Sneed, Calvin Ridley, Kenneth Murray, T’Vondre Sweat, Lloyd Cuahenberry, JC Latham, Tony Pollard and Tyler Boyd dramatically changing how this Titans roster is viewed. With all of those positives out of the way, Tennessee still has a bottom-10 offensive line, an unproven quarterback and very little depth at critical spots. There’s enough starting talent to make a fair evaluation of Will Levis this season, but not nearly enough talent on the roster for the Titans to be a contender.

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The New England Patriots opted to keep the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, taking quarterback Drake Maye, instead of trading down and stockpiling picks. That’s a small reason they have one of the worst NFL rosters right now. The other, of course, is because Bill Belichick was one of the worst NFL general managers in his final years with the team. New England’s defense is loaded with talent, but Maye and fellow quarterback Jacoby Brissett have next to nothing to work with offensively. It’s going to take 2-3 years before the Patriots roster is back where it needs to be.

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If we just ranked the offensive skill players on NFL rosters, the Arizona Cardinals would be a dark horse pick for a top-10 spot. When looking at 53-man rosters, however, that’s where Arizona runs into trouble. This is probably one of the least talented and thinnest defenses in football and the offensive line, at best, might be just league average this season. Those issues put Arizona in this spot, but we’d rank them a tier above the absolute worst NFL rosters right now.

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The New Orleans Saints roster is in a pretty dire position, especially considering all the dead cap hits the team is still carrying. Derek Carr is a below-average starter, the Saints arguably have the worst offensive line in the NFL and there isn’t a true No. 2 receiver on the roster. Defensively, this isn’t a great defensive line and there are a mix of studs and fillers at the next two levels. Collectively, it’s one of the worst NFL rosters in 2024.

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Sean Payton sure got himself into a mess with the Denver Broncos. Many in Colorado are buzzing right now after Bo Nix’s preseason performances, which earned him the right to start in Week 1. It’s a good system to walk into and Nix will at least have an adequate No. 1 receiver in Courtland Sutton with an offensive line and defense that can’t be classified as one of the league’s worst units. With that acknowledged, the Broncos have one Pro Bowl-caliber player (Patrick Surtain) on the roster. Outside of him, there’s no real building block for a team.

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Jayden Daniels isn’t walking into a good situation. There’s a strong case to be made that the Washington Commanders roster doesn’t have a bonafide No. 2 or No. 3 wideout, the offensive line is abysmal and Washington’s defense will be one of the worst in football this season. It makes it even harder for Daniels that the Commanders coaching staff, probably shouldn’t be considered one of this club’s strengths. While we understand the excitement fans have for Daniels’ rookie season, the Commanders roster greatly increases the odds of him disappointing in 2024.

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We’ll start with the good with the New York Giants roster. The defensive line is absolutely stacked, arguably one of the best in the league right now. There are also some intriguing blue-chip talents at key spots – cornerback Deonte Banks, wide receiver Malik Nabers and offensive tackle Andrew Thomas – but that’s about it for New York. A below-average starting quarterback, a porous offensive line, a weak running back room and a shaky secondary. That’s enough to be labeled one of the worst NFL rosters in 2024.

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We highlighted NFL quarterbacks who were set up to fail by their teams and it should come as no surprise that Bryce Young made it on the list. The Carolina Panthers threw him into a historically bad situation last year and he never looked like the No. 1 overall pick in his rookie season. The good news is that Carolina added Diontae Johnson, Damien Lewis, Jadeveon Clowney and Robert Hunt to the roster this season. Even with those adds, we’re still calling this the worst roster in football.

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