NFL training camp has drawn to a close and with position battles largely determined, all eyes turn to 53-man rosters being finalized ahead of Week 1. With starting lineups largely set, it allows us to examine the worst NFL starters on all 32 NFL teams in 2024.
For the sake of this exercise, we’re going to look past special teams players or fringe backups who might only make a few starts in September. Instead, our focus for the worst NFL starters is on players who are largely expected to play a majority of the season and play an important position. With that in mind, let’s dive into our list of the worst NFL starters on every team.
Arizona Cardinals: Sean Murphy-Bunting, cornerback
Context is sometimes required when choosing the worst NFL starters. The Arizona Cardinals defense is a glaring weakness and it would be easy to pick one of the young, unproven players who will get plenty of snaps in 2024. Instead, we’re choosing the cornerback who will be asked most often to take on the toughest assignments. Sean Murphy-Bunting allowed a 91.9 QB rating when targeted last season (Pro Football Focus) with a 63.8 percent completion rate and 14.7 yards per completion. Now tasked with guarding better wide receivers as Arizona’s best corner, he’ll be one of the biggest liabilities in 2024.
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Atlanta Falcons: Mike Hughes, cornerback
The good news for the Atlanta Falcons is that glaring holes at edge rusher and safety were addressed by landing Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons. Unfortunately, Mike Hughes is still one of Atlanta’s starting cornerbacks. Hughes, a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft allowed a 100-plus QB rating in 2021 and ’22 when he saw 50-plus targets thrown his way. He didn’t see the field much a ton last year (19 targets thrown in his direction), but that’ll change this fall. With AJ Terrell and Atlanta’s safeties both strong in coverage, Hughes will be the weak link teams target.
Baltimore Ravens: Daniel Faalele, right guard
Choosing the worst NFL starters on the top teams isn’t easy, but the Baltimore Ravens offensive line made it a simple choice. We could’ve gone with the starters with zero experience – guard Andrew Vorhees and tackle Roger Rosengarten – but Daniel Faalele feels like the right choice. A fourth-round pick in 2022, Faalele allowed 10 pressures, 3 sacks and 2 QB hits in just 101 pass-blocking snaps last season. As a rookie in 2022, he allowed 10 pressures and 4 sacks in 101 snaps (PFF). That makes him one of the worst NFL starters in 2024.
Buffalo Bills: Damar Hamlin, safety
Injuries complicate the choice for the Buffalo Bills. We gave some consideration to center Connor McGovern, but the safety room stands out even more. Given Cole Bishop missed significant time in training camp as a rookie, the door should be open for Damar Hamlin. He is obviously a feel-good story, but there’s also a reason Buffalo only let him play 5 percent of the defensive snaps last season. He’ll play a much bigger role in 2024, but Hamlin will be one of the Bills’ few weak spots in 2024.
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Carolina Panthers: Ikem Ekwonu, Carolina Panthers
Taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, Ikem Ekwonu has been a colossal disappointment at left tackle. After allowing 6 sacks as a rookie, he allowed nearly twice that (11) last season and was rated as one of the worst pass-blocking tackles in the NFL. Considering a left tackle’s primary purpose is to protect the quarterback, Ekwonu’s biggest weakness at a critical position makes him one of the worst NFL starters right now.
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Chicago Bears: Nate Davis, right guard
It’s a credit to the Chicago Bears front office that the choices for their worst starter are limited. We could make a case for aging safety Kevin Byard, but this young Bears secondary just needs his experience back there. Instead, our focus is on the weakest point on the Bears roster. Nate Davis drew 6 penalties and allowed 29 pressures last season, per Pro Football Focus. Of greater concern, the reports out of Bears training camp have been even worse. There are big questions regarding the interior of the Bears offensive line and Davis is our biggest concern in 2024.
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Cincinnati Bengals: Cordell Volson, left guard
The Cincinnati Bengals are a strong example of a top-heavy team. There used to be a lot of talent on this defense, but it’s either left in NFL free agency or regressed significantly. Injuries along the offensive line have also heightened some concerns with this roster. When choosing the team’s worst starter, it came down to guard Cordell Volson, tight end Mike Gesicki and the defensive tackles. Ultimately, considering the importance of protecting Joe Burrow, it’s the guard who allowed 5 sacks and surrendered the eighth-most pressures (38) at his position last season (PFF), that gets the nod.
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Cleveland Browns: Deshaun Watson, quarterback
The Cleveland Browns have one of the best rosters in football, with an elite defense and plenty of offensive weapons. Even with Nick Chubb poised to miss a quarter of the season, fill-in starter Jerome Ford is a proven option. So, what makes Deshaun Watson one of the worst NFL starters in 2024? The fact that he’s the one thing holding this team back. Cleveland has everything it needs to compete for a Super Bowl, except a high-end quarterback and Watson has been outperformed statistically by the likes of Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz and Jacoby Brissett.
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This is the same quarterback who received the first-ever contract worth more than $200 million guaranteed. When you aren’t one of the leaders in the locker room (Jameis Winston is), you can’t stay healthy and you perform like a bottom-10 quarterback, you deserve to be called the Browns’ worst starter in 2024.
Dallas Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott, running back
It’s things like signing Ezekiel Elliott and making him the starting running back that makes you wonder how serious Jerry Jones is about competing for a Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys have the worst starting running back in the NFL, giving the job to Elliott because he is one of Jones’ favorite Cowboys icons. It doesn’t matter that he averaged 3.5 yards per carry last season, even worse than his last year in Dallas (3.8) or that he ranked 60th in true yards per carry (3.5) last season. Cowboys’ ownership liked him, so he came back.
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Denver Broncos: Bo Nix, quarterback
This won’t be a popular selection among Denver Broncos fans and for good reason. There’s a ton of excitement coming out of the preseason surrounding Nix, who ran away with the QB competition and earned glowing praise from Sean Payton. Nix is an accurate quarterback and his record-setting number of starts in the NCAA gives him the experience to fall back on. However, he’s not a supreme physical talent and concerns with accuracy both in the intermediate areas and under pressure will likely show up this year. There just isn’t a ton of upside with Nix, even if he is a superior option to the other Broncos quarterbacks.
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Detroit Lions: Marcus Davenport, edge rusher
It speaks volumes of the Detroit Lions roster that Marcus Davenport is our choice for their worst starter. A first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Davenport’s career-high for sacks is 9 (2021). In his other five seasons, he’s compiled just 14.5 sacks in 56 games. Injuries play a significant part in that, but he has still played 43 games without recording a sack (60 percent of career). Needless to say, there’s a reason the Lions will monitor the trade market for a No. 2 edge rusher during the season.
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Green Bay Packers: Anders Carlson/Greg Joseph, kicker
On the one hand, it can certainly be seen as a positive when one of the worst NFL starters on your team isn’t seeing the field on offense or defense. With that said, the Packers’ situation at kicker is dreadful. Carlson struggled as a rookie, especially in big moments in January. In training camp, Joseph got off to a great start and now is struggling to make 80 percent of his field-goal attempts and Carlson hasn’t been much better. The Packers’ kicker is going to cause frustration for fans pretty often in 2024.
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Houston Texans: Juice Scruggs, center
Chosen by the Houston Texans with the 62nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Juice Scruggs got thrown into the fire as a rookie, playing over 400 snaps at left guard. To put it mildly, he wasn’t good. Houston shifted him to center this offseason, but there’s a strong case to be made that he’s been outperformed by Jarrett Patterson this summer. Until Houston makes a change or unless Scruggs instantly turns things around, he’ll be the Texans worst starter this season.
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Indianapolis Colts: Segun Olubi, outside linebacker
In picking the worst Indianapolis Colts starter, the focus immediately went to the defense. There’s undeniable talent on the defensive line, but it’s a young secondary and that’s not the only starting spot with inexperience. Segun Olubi, undrafted in 2022, has played just 114 defensive snaps in his first two NFL seasons. Now thrust into the starting lineup, he’ll be one of the players opponents look to attack this fall.
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Jacksonville Jaguars: Ezra Cleveland, right guard
The Cleveland Browns are one of the NFL teams this offseason that spread money around to address multiple needs. While they might not have landed high-end starters, the likes of Arik Armstead, Darnell Savage and Ronald Darby should all be upgrades at their positions. However, it does make Ezra Cleveland a weak link on a shaky offensive line. Cleveland, who Jacksonville acquired in a mid-season trade last year, was awful in Jacksonville. Considering the team doesn’t have a great history of maximizing offensive linemen, it stands to reason Cleveland will again be one of the worst guards in the AFC this year.
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Kansas City Chiefs: Mike Danna, edge defender
There’s a case to be made for right tackle Jawaan Taylor, but he did show signs of at least being average last season. On the other side of the ball, edge defender Mike Danna might only hold onto the starting job for a few months. He’s not particularly strong in any area and the Chiefs have Felix Anudike-Uzomah waiting behind him. However, with Charles Omenihu sidelined, Danna will see the field more and won’t make much of an impact for this Chiefs defense.
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Las Vegas Raiders: Gardner Minshew, quarterback
The Las Vegas Raiders have more talent than fans around the league recognize, especially on defense. Unfortunately, the glaring holes are at quarterback and guard. We strongly considered Cody Whitehair here, but it’s the importance of the quarterback position and what the Raiders need that makes Gardner Minshew the pick. He’s a mistake-prone quarterback with some issues that were masked by Shane Steichen, one of the best play-callers in the NFL last year. We have zero confidence in Raiders offensive coordinator Luke Getsy masking Minshew’s weaknesses as Steichen did. Ultimately, the Raiders’ starting quarterback will be the reason this team doesn’t make the playoffs.
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Los Angeles Chargers: Joshua Palmer, wide receiver
The Los Angeles Chargers have the worst receiving corps in the NFL and with Ladd McConkey sidelined for a significant portion of training camp due to injury, the rookie might not get as many targets early on as we hoped. So, that leaves Joshua Palmer as the primary option for Justin Herbert. Palmer, who had a career-high 769 receiving yards in 2022, is an excellent No. 3 receiver. Unfortunately, he’s being asked to play a much bigger role than he should in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Rams: Christian Rozeboom, outside linebacker
The choice came down to Tre’Davious White and Christian Rozeboom. Ultimately, we went with the off-ball linebacker who had an alarming 19.4 percent missed tackle rate (PFF) last season and also surrendered 206 yards after catch on 39 completions (Pro Football Reference) while failing to record a hurry or sack on 19 blitzes. In short, Rozeboom is really just a body on the Rams defense.
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Miami Dolphins: Isaiah Wynn, left guard
Isaiah Wynn didn’t surrender a sack last season, but that’s largely because Tua Tagovailoa gets the football out quickly. Instead, Wynn became one of the NFL’s worst run blockers at his position and his game has continued to regress in the last three seasons. We’re confident that Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel will find ways to lessen the negative impact of one of the worst NFL starters in 2024, but there will still be plenty of instances where Wynn’s poor play causes frustration in Miami.
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Minnesota Vikings: Jerry Tillery, defensive end
Brian Flores gets to work with a lot more talent on the Minnesota Vikings defense this season and that’s exciting for this unit’s ceiling. With that acknowledged, Jerry Tillery is still expected to see plenty of snaps this year. Tillery, once the 28th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, has either been a below-average starter or a fringe rotational player since entering the league. Minnesota’s hope might be that rookie Levi Drake Rodriguez comes along quickly, which is certainly possible.
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New England Patriots: Drake Maye, quarterback
Whether Drake Maye is named the New England Patriots starting quarterback in Week 1 or Week 5, he’ll make a majority of the starts this season. It’s likely the best thing for his development, as live reps are the best teacher for a young quarterback. However, he is underdeveloped and he’ll make even more mistakes because this offensive line and receiving corps aren’t capable of bailing him out. In short, Maye will be one of the worst starting quarterbacks in 2024, but it shouldn’t be taken as an indictment of his long-term promise.
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New Orleans Saints: Trevor Penning, offensive tackle
Trevor Penning has been one of the worst NFL starters at any position since he entered the league as a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. What’s inexplicable is how the New Orleans Saints went into the offseason aware of Ryan Ramczyk’s career-threatening injury and did nothing to prepare for the worst. Sure enough, Ramczyk won’t play this season and that thrusts Penning back into the starting lineup at right tackle. He’ll cost the Saints until they bench him.
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New York Giants: Theo Johnson, tight end
There’s no denying Theo Johnson’s potential long-term as an electric offensive weapon in the New York Giants offense. However, the rookie season is historically the most challenging for tight ends and Johnson was an obvious project entering the pre-draft process. He won’t be helped out by his quarterback either, making success in 2024 even more unlikely. Johnson can be an above-average starter at his peak, but for now, he is one of the worst NFL starters right now.
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New York Jets: Javon Kinlaw, defensive tackle
Javon Kinlaw being the New York Jets’ representative on this list is a good thing because it means the Jets are healthy. New York completely overhauled its biggest weakness last season – offensive line – plus it added depth at some other spots. Kinlaw, the 14th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, never put it together with the San Francisco 49ers. Considering his ineffectiveness, he’s the most obvious choice for New York but he won’t be remotely as harmful as other starters on this list.
Philadelphia Eagles: Devin White, inside linebacker
Devin White brings a lot of speed, which can make him an effective blitzer, but that’s about all you can rely on him for. Even with perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Lavonte David playing alongside him in Tampa Bay, often cleaning up White’s mistakes, the missed tackles and awful reads were still pretty apparent. He doesn’t have that kind of linebacker in Philadelphia who can mask his shortcomings and opponents are very familiar with how to exploit White’s weaknesses. By November, Eagles fans will probably be counting down the weeks until White’s contract expires.
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Pittsburgh Steelers: Van Jefferson, wide receiver
There’s a reason the Pittsburgh Steelers desperately wanted to trade for Brandon Aiyuk. With Roman Wilson sidelined for the majority of training camp due to injury, Van Jefferson is thrust into a primary role. Once the 57th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Jefferson has totaled just 578 receiving yards with 3 touchdowns in his last 28 games played. In short, Pittsburgh isn’t getting much from its No. 2 receiver and it will have to hope someone becomes available soon.
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San Francisco 49ers: Aaron Banks, right guard
The San Francisco 49ers offensive line might look good in the box score, but that has everything to do with the trio of Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy and Trent Williams. Still, the 49ers offensive line is the team’s biggest weakness and Banks was one of the worst NFL starters in 2023. There’s zero reason to expect sudden improvement in his age-27 season and fans will see numerous instances this season where that first penetration comes from Banks’ spot.
Seattle Seahawks: Laken Tomlinson, left guard
The Seattle Seahawks are another one of the NFL teams that address many of their weakest points this offseason. At a few spots, specifically guard, it’s going to be a bit of a wait before the rookie is ready. That means Laken Tomlinson, who allowed the third-most sacks (seven) among his peers last season, keeps his spot in the startling lineup. Weak in pass protection and much worse as a run blocker, the Seahawks just have to hope that Christian Haynes comes along quickly.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, edge defender
It seems like so long ago that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pass rush was one of the biggest reasons why they won the Super Bowl. Fast forward to 2024, pick your edge rusher for the team’s worst starter. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is the bigger disappointment as a former first-round pick who has played 17 games in all three seasons and never recorded more than 5 sacks.
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Tennessee Titans: Nicholas Petit-Frere, right tackle
Kudos to the Tennessee Titans for shoring up so many of their needs during the spring and summer. The left side of Tennessee’s offensive line might be a strength and the defense now has the depth and talent at all three levels to potentially be an above-average unit. It’s the right side of the offensive line that we’re concerned about. Nicholas Petit-Frere, a third-round pick in 2022, only played 66 pass-blocking snaps last season (PFF) yet still surrendered 5 QB hits and 3 sacks with 4 penalties. We know offensive line coach Bill Callahan can work wonders, but even he can only do so much.
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Washington Commanders: Benjamin St-Juste, cornerback
The Washington Commanders cornerbacks room is one of the worst in the league, which says a lot considering 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes Jr. can’t even crack the starting lineup. Benjamin St-Juste will essentially serve as the No. 1 corner for the Commanders this season. It means Washington will rely on a corner who allowed a 63.2 percent ratch rate and 769 receiving yards last season, all with opponents averaging a 102.9 QB rating when throwing his way. Yeah, the Commanders pass defense is going to be an issue for them.
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