The holiday season is here once again. With Christmas just days away and the new year set to begin next week, NFL teams are surely wishing for just the right thing to make their 2024 season — or their franchise — as successful as possible.
With that in mind, we’re giving them exactly that — ways to improve. In theory, of course. Here’s what every team should be wishing for over the next week or so.
NFC East
What I really wanted to give the Cowboys was a new head coach, but since they insist on winning these games down the stretch, we’ll give them something else. Dallas absolutely has to be open to acquiring players in some way other than in the draft. Make some trades, sign some free agents to more than one-year deals. Look at what other teams are doing and learn from it.
New York, please have your choice of Cam Ward (FROM? THE U!) and Shedeur Sanders.
Hurts suffered a concussion during Sunday’s loss to the Commanders. He needs to pass through the protocol, and the most important thing, obviously, is his health. But Philly sure could use him for these final two games of the season — especially if it wants to thread its inside straight draw for the No. 1 seed.
Washington is now two games back of the Eagles in the standings. If Philly loses both games and Washington wins both, we’ll get a division record tiebreaker, which Washington would win.
NFC North
The Bears, for some reason, came into the season with a lame-duck coach in the first season of their rookie quarterback’s career, for the third consecutive time. Unsurprisingly, things did not work out. Let’s get somebody in there who can scheme Williams into success instead of just relying on him to make plays out of sheer talent.
The Lions have the offense to beat anybody. In the playoffs, they’ll need their defense to pull the same weight. With so many key contributors out, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn might need to go on the heater to end all heaters.
Green Bay and Minnesota essentially need the same things. They’re each jockeying for playoff positioning, whether it comes to the wild-card spots or actually winning the division. Their Week 17 game has absolutely massive implications.
NFC South
Atlanta has already turned the page on the Kirk Cousins era, which means it’s time to see what Penix can do. The first game against the Giants had some good and some bad, but that’s to be expected. The Falcons need to get more out of their passing game, and if Penix can be a talent elevator, that would provide a massive boost.
The player Young has been since returning to the lineup following his benching looks absolutely nothing like the guy we saw for the first year and a half of his career. And that’s a good thing. If Carolina can keep this going through the final two games and build on it coming into next year, perhaps he can start living up to the No. 1 overall pick billing.
The Saints have been putting it off for years, but it’s time. This version of the team is going nowhere, and they need to start over. Take the salary-cap medicine for a year or two and figure out a new way forward.
The Bucs have been carried this year by Baker Mayfield and the offense. Given that Todd Bowles is a defensive coach, that’s not great! They’ve hemorrhaged talent on that side of the ball since their Super Bowl victory a few years ago, so it’s not necessarily Bowles’ fault, but they need to make some pretty dramatic improvements to become a legitimate contender.
NFC West
You never know what you’re getting from the Cardinals. They’re the kind of team that can, for example, beat the Rams and Niners and Chargers, but lose to the Panthers. Even their units on offense and defense are massively inconsistent from week to week. Let’s figure out a way to change that.
The Rams are in the driver’s seat for the NFC West title. If they beat the Cards and Seahawks these next two weeks, they’ll host a(t least one) playoff game at SoFi Stadium.
Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams, Jordan Mason, Elijah Mitchell, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Hargrave, Kevin Givens, even punter Mitch Wishnowski. So many more 49ers players have missed time this year for one reason or another, too, from Deebo Samuel to George Kittle to Nick Bosa to Talanoa Hufanga and more. An offseason to heal up will do them some good.
Geno Smith has had to put on a magic act for much of this season, in order for the Seahawks to find offensive success. The line in front of him has deteriorated since he got to Seattle, and needs to be improved in a big way.
AFC East
The Bills own the tiebreaker against Kansas City and finish out the season with games against the Jets and Patriots. But they can’t claim the No. 1 seed unless the Chiefs lose to the Steelers or Broncos.
Miami, when its offense is rolling, is so much fun. But the Dolphins can seemingly only get things rolling one way — with big, explosive plays, whether they come with downfield passing or with YAC. Down-to-down consistency is something they’ve been searching for, so let’s find it for them.
Maye looks like a future star. He’s also playing with one of the worst supporting casts in the NFL. Upgrades along the offensive line and in the pass-catcher corps are desperately needed.
The Jets should probably try to find a way to forget the Aaron Rodgers era.
AFC North
As ESPN’s Seth Walder noted, Baltimore ranked 26th in the NFL in EPA per dropback on defense through Week 9. Since Week 10, the Ravens rank first. Keep that going and they’ll have a better chance than ever to break through in the AFC playoffs.
Speaking of defense … the Bengals need one. Like, any defense at all. A unit that could stop you and more from scoring points.
Similarly, the Browns absolutely cannot come into next season with the same quarterback situation. Deshaun Watson is a sunk cost. He legitimately hasn’t been good in over four years at this point. (And that’s before we get to his two dozen sexual misconduct allegations.) The Browns were more fun with Jameis Winston under center, but they weren’t actually good offensively. They need to turn over the quarterback room this offseason.
Pittsburgh desperately needs George Pickens back on the field. The offense doesn’t work without him. But the Steelers could also use some of their defensive stars to get over the nagging injuries that have either kept them off the field or affected them while on it over the last several weeks.
AFC South
Ugh. The second consecutive mid-December leg injury for Tank Dell was just brutal. He was finally looking like the explosive playmaker he was last year, and then on maybe his best play of the entire season, he suffers a dislocated kneecap. Get well, Tank. And please, Nick Caserio, give C.J. Stroud some better protection up front.
Richardson has flashed some very high upside and some very low downside. He’s only started 15 career games at this point, so that makes sense! Especially considering he was a young (20 years old on draft day), raw prospect who hadn’t started that many games in college. So, the Colts need him to come back next year and show the kind of improvement that you’d normally expect in Year 2 of a quarterback’s career.
It’s time once again for the Jags to hit the coach carousel. And preferably the GM carousel, too.
Will Levis, as we have discovered, is not the answer under center for the Titans. It’s been a while since they had a quarterback who could lead them into the future, really. Even when Ryan Tannehill took over for Marcus Mariota, he was already a mid-career veteran and not necessarily the guy to whom you could turn the franchise over for a decade. It won’t be easy, obviously, but the Titans have got to find that guy.
AFC West
Sean Payton can scheme Bo Nix into passing-game success. Vance Joseph’s defense is quite good. But the Broncos cannot run the darn ball, no matter which of their backs is carrying the load. Let’s find a way to change that.
What do you get the team that wins everything? Another Super Bowl — which would give the Chiefs the first-ever three-peat in the Super Bowl era.
The Raiders’ victory over the Jaguars on Sunday dropped them down from the No. 2 overall pick to the No. 6 pick. Less than ideal for a team that is definitely going to be in the quarterback market this offseason. Mark Davis was apparently very happy in the locker room after the win over Jacksonville. He’ll probably be happier come April if his team drops its final two games and sees the Pats, Jags, Titans and/or Browns capture at least one win.
Justin Herbert has done an admirable job steering the offense with a lack of talent around him. Let’s give him a true complement to Ladd McConkey so he doesn’t have to do it all by himself.
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