The offseason in the National Football League offers teams the best opportunity to improve their rosters for the year ahead. However, for some of the worst NFL teams, acquiring talent can prove difficult. While the 2024 NFL Draft will help shape some of these rosters, there is a pretty clear picture of who some of the worst NFL teams in 2024 will be.
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Here are the worst NFL teams right now after free agency, ranked from best to worst.
23. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings had a very productive offseason, but the dropoff at quarterback from Kirk Cousins to a rookie quarterback is going to be massive. It took Cousins years to learn Kevin O’Connell’s system and there will be an even bigger learning curve from a rookie. Having a good defense paired with running back Aaron Jones and wide receiver Justin Jefferson will help Minnesota win some games, but either Sam Darnold or presumably J.J. McCarthy at quarterback gives the Vikings a very low ceiling.
24. Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks future looks excellent. After being hired as head coach Mike Macdonald put together a phenomenal coaching staff that should help Seattle keep up with the evolution of football both offensively and defensively. There’s also a lot of young talent to like on both sides of the ball, led by Devon Witherspoon, Kenneth Walker III, Boye Mafe, DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. While quarterback Geno Smith will lead a very competitive Seahawks’ offense, the youth on defense and the transition period of learning Macdonald’s scheme is what will lead to a subpar year.
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25. New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints keep fighting off the grim reaper that is a rebuild every year, pushing their biggest salary-cap woes into the future. Of course, the big problem that comes with this approach is each year the roster gets older and the team’s ceiling dips even further. New Orleans might have just enough juice defensively to have a top-12 unit, but this Saints’ offense has been a disappointment for years. When your ceiling is eight wins, you’re one of the worst NFL teams.
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26. Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are handling their quarterback evaluation the right way. With second-year general manager Ran Carthon, Tennessee added a quality coaching staff to support Will Levis. Brian Callahan runs a great offense and his father is one of the best offensive line coaches of our era. Plus, Levis will have DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, Treylon Burks and Chigoziem Okonkwo to throw to behind an upgraded offensive line. There still isn’t nearly enough here defensively and potentially not even at quarterback to contend, but at least the Titans’ future is bright. View 2024 as a transition year.
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27. Washington Commanders
The Washington Commanders took a massive step forward this offseason. First-year general manager Adam Peters is one of the best talent evaluators in football, especially in the middle and late rounds of the NFL Draft. He’ll have all the resources he needs to build this roster and while head coach Dan Quinn wasn’t a home-run hire, he can at least push this team in a positive direction. Just as important, Washington is adding a franchise-caliber quarterback atop the 2024 NFL Draft and that rookie will have an impressive cast of pass-catchers around him. Plus, with Quinn running the defense and the additions made in NFL free agency, the Commanders’ defense should be much-improved.
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28. New York Giants
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll already appears to be on the hot seat and it only took one down year for concerning reports to emerge about him and the Giants’ organization. While we love what New York did this offseason to upgrade its defense, there’s a very strong argument that it now has the worst offense in football. This isn’t just the worst team in the NFC East, New York projects to be one of the worst NFL teams in 2024. If that happens, the Giants have to clean house.
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29. New England Patriots
New England Patriots first-year coach Jerod Mayo and de-facto general manager Eliot Wolf have their work cut out for them. Bill Belichick left behind one of the worst situations in the NFL. While New England had roughly $100 million in cap space this offseason, much of it had to be used to keep some of the few quality, young starters this roster had. It does appear increasingly likely that the Patriots will use the third overall pick on a rookie quarterback. Unfortunately for Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, they’re going to be surrounded by one of the league’s worst supporting casts. We do expect the Patriots’ defense to be very good, but last year showed it takes a lot more than that to win. At least the future is bright, we think.
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30. Denver Broncos
After being hired by the Denver Broncos and then going against coaches’ ethics by trashing the reputation of his predecessor, head coach Sean Payton said he expected the Broncos to be playoff contenders in 2023. One year later, the head coach making $18 million per year put Broncos’ ownership on the hook for the largest dead cap hit in NFL history ($85 million) and he cut ties with fan-favorite Justin Simmons. Payton is now overseeing a rebuild for a team with minimal cap space over the next two years and a complete absence of the necessary pieces to even start building a quality NFL franchise. Denver might not win five games next year. When the roster is this bad and your coach has a history of making decisions that leave long-term cap problems, that is concerning for the future.
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31. Arizona Cardinals
We’re willing to be patient with the Arizona Cardinals, but there’s also a reason they are open to trading down in the 2024 NFL Draft instead of taking a generational talent in Marvin Harrison Jr. The offensive line around Kyler Murray is still a problem and he is working with one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL. On the other side, Jonathan Gannon doesn’t have a single cornerstone talent to build his defense around long-term. Murray is a difference-maker who can elevate this offense, but a bottom-five defense and a bottom-10 offense still create one of the worst NFL teams in 2024.
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32. Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are the worst NFL team right now. If we’re looking for positives, it’s the fact that the situation around quarterback Bryce Young is finally improved. Diontae Johnson can be an excellent No. 2 receiver in Dave Canalas’ offense and the addition of Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis provided much-needed help on the interior offensive line. Unfortunately, while the Panthers’ offense could improve to just being below average in 2024, the complete absence of a pass rush means it will have one of the worst defenses in football. David Tepper really did a number on this franchise.
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