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We've waited over 200 days for NFL football to return, but we're just hours away from the kickoff game. I've had a lot of fun looking at rookies and sleepers during the offseason, but now it's time to get even bolder.
Living in a region with no NFL fans, my friends typically ask me why I like gridiron football. I love the action, but I love all the wild stuff that usually happens with the fun narratives surrounding star players even more. Attempting to predict what will happen will be tough, but hey, it's worth giving it a shot.
Without further ado, let's look at my boldest predictions for the 2024 NFL season. These will likely be wrong, but we're just here to have fun.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2024:- Quarterback fantasy football rankings
- Running back fantasy football rankings
- Wide receiver fantasy football rankings
- Tight end fantasy football rankings
- Kicker fantasy football rankings
- FLEX fantasy football rankings
- Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
- Superflex fantasy football rankings
- IDP fantasy football rankings
- Dynasty fantasy football rankings
1. Kirk Cousins Will Win the 2024 NFL MVP Award...
And Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London Will Have Awesome Fantasy Seasons
Kirk Cousins now finds himself in a new home after many impressive years with the Minnesota Vikings. But Cousins has never gotten the respect he deserves from the NFL media due to his lack of playoff success.
Cousins entered the league in 2012 and only has one playoff win in four starts. Cousins has been on mediocre teams his entire career, winning double-digit games just twice despite consistently putting up excellent stats.
If Kirk recovers fully and is back to 100% this season, with this Falcons offense, it is not unreasonable to consider him a dark horse MVP candidate.. is it? 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/RLWggp9nz0
— SportsInStats (@SportsInStats) August 16, 2024
Cousins is statistically an elite quarterback; he is eighth all-time in passer rating, 23rd in yards per attempt, and 10th in yards per game. The guy can play, but he has never had help. But now, everything is about to change.
In Atlanta, he has one of the best offensive lines in the league, and great weapons such as Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson. They will help him put points up the board, but Cousins will also have a good defense this time.
Atlanta has a great defense, which Cousins has only ever had twice in his career (2018 and 2019 Vikings). He'll also have a good kicker, as he has always been on teams with bad kickers.
No one talks about it, but having a great kicker like Younghoe Koo can be the difference between winning and losing games. Cousins has always gotten unlucky with his defenses and special teams blowing big leads and losing games he should have won, but now he can finally get some wins on this team.
He can lead them to a 5-1 or 6-0 record against the poor NFC South division, and get them a very high seed in the standings. A 12-win season with great stats, combined with the fact that he's coming off a torn Achilles, could be enough for Cousins to secure an unlikely MVP.
2. Josh Allen Will Break the QB Rushing TD Record Again…
And Will Be the Fantasy QB1 for a Record-Tying Fourth Time
In 2022, Jalen Hurts was on track to break Cam Newton's record for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season but got hurt and missed two games near the end of the year. Hurts went for the record again in 2023, but this time he had some competition.
Josh Allen was chasing Hurts for the record during the season but Hurts finally etched his name in history by scoring his 15th rushing TD of the year in Week 16. Allen needed two more touchdowns over the next two games, assuming Hurts wouldn't score another TD.
And that's exactly what happened. Hurts failed to score in each of his last two games, while Allen scored two against New England to get to 15 TDs on the year. Both QBs want the record to be exclusively theirs, but the odds now seem to be in Allen's favor.
For starters, Jason Kelce's retirement and the arrival of Saquon Barkley will likely cause the Eagles to use the "Tush Push" less, resulting in fewer touchdowns for Hurts. Hurts will still score a bunch of TDs, but Allen has a real chance of overtaking him.
Stefon Diggs is gone, and the Bills haven't signed any good WRs to replace him. They need someone to score TDs to fill the void, and James Cook is willing to sacrifice goal-line TDs for Allen.
It's not often that you see records being broken, but Allen can finish this season with 16+ rushing touchdowns and become the fantasy QB1 for the fourth time. Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers are the only QBs with four QB1 finishes, and Allen looks likely to join them soon.
3. Cooper Kupp Will Lead the Rams in Receiving Yards…
And Puka Nacua Will Be the Clear No. 2 Behind Him
Cooper Kupp had one of the greatest fantasy seasons of all time in 2021 and went on to win the Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP that year. Since then, he has struggled with injuries and Puka Nacua has emerged in his place.
But now, Kupp is healthy again and is ready to dominate. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Kupp is "all the way back" to full health and L.A.'s offense "clearly runs through" him. Last year, he played through some injuries, which hurt his stats.
Cooper Kupp is going to outscore and out target Puka Nacua.
— Jeff Bell (@4WhomJBellTolls) August 28, 2024
The last time he was 100% healthy was in the 2022 season. Through the first nine weeks, Kupp had 813 receiving yards, six receiving touchdowns, and a rushing TD. He averaged 24.8 PPR points a game, easily the most among all wide receivers.
That's not to say Nacua will have a bad season, but he won't be as dominant as last year. He will struggle to justify his ADP, but fantasy managers who have Kupp on their team will feast in 2024.
4. Sam LaPorta Will Go Through a Sophomore Slump
And Travis Kelce Will Reclaim His Fantasy Throne
Sam LaPorta rocked the NFL in 2023, catching 86 passes for 889 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns in a great Lions side. His success was replicated in fantasy, as he racked up 239.3 PPR points and finished as the overall fantasy TE1.
The Lions have kept the core of their roster, and LaPorta is poised to have another big year, right? Well, LaPorta had the fourth-most receiving yards by a rookie TE in NFL history last year, which puts him in elite company.
The concerning thing is, when you look at the top 10 of that list, you'll see that every single TE regressed in their sophomore year. From legends such as Mike Ditka to current players like Kyle Pitts and Evan Engram, no one was safe.
History is not on LaPorta's side here, and this is where Travis Kelce comes in. After five consecutive TE1 finishes, Kelce was finally beaten out by Mark Andrews in 2021.
Many thought this was the end for Kelce, but he bounced back in 2022 and became the TE1 again. This same scenario could happen this year.
5. Spencer Rattler Will Replace Derek Carr...
And Will Make A.T. Perry a Fantasy-Relevant Player During the Fantasy Playoffs
This is a weird one. Saints fans are currently very divided, some think Derek Carr is a solid QB who has been let down by poor coaching, a lack of real weapons apart from Chris Olave, and a terrible offensive line.
Other Saints fans think Carr is terrible and the Saints made a mistake by signing him. Unfortunately for the first camp, these issues are still present and the Saints are still in "No Man's Land."
RATTLER TO A.T.
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/FOrgAJ8sNy
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 25, 2024
They're too good (and have spent too much money) to rebuild, but they're not good enough to beat the Falcons or Buccaneers. Fortunately for the second camp, the Saints drafted South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler with the 150th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Rattler looked sharp in the offseason and so did A.T. Perry, who led the team in receiving yards in two out of three preseason games. It's pretty easy to picture the scene: Carr puts up solid numbers as the Saints go 5-8 in the first 14 weeks.
With no chance of making the playoffs, the Saints bench Carr to see what they have in Rattler and expand Perry's role as well, making both players fantasy-relevant during the fantasy playoffs.
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