The 2024 NFL draft is in the books, which means that we’re getting closer to training camp – and getting a sense of which teams have won the off-season, and which teams have slipped. Some teams have primed themselves for major upgrades, others have largely stood pat, and still others have let the rosters slip, perhaps looking for rebuilds beginning in 2025. We don’t know the week-by-week schedules of the 32 teams, so it’s difficult actually to predict which teams will open the season with five-game losing streaks (NFL Win-Loss), but it’s not that hard to tell which teams start 2024 behind the eight-ball. Let’s take a look at teams with real problems to solve before the regular season opens in September, so you can start thinking about how to line up your sports betting for NFL action.
NFL Win-Loss Betting Analysis: Teams Most Likely to Start 0-5 in the NFL
NFL Win-Loss: Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders currently have Aidan O’Connell and Gardnew Minshew at the top of their depth chart at quarterback, and the team did not draft a signal-caller out of the rookie class. Many had thought that the Raiders might take a quarterback, but Michael Penix Jr, J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix were all off the board when Las Vegas picked at No. 13, surprising many draft observers. So the Raiders went with the best player left on the board – tight end Brock Bowers out of Georgia. With his speed and size, Bowers will both stretch the field and contribute solid possession when he runs routes.
You’ll remember that the Raiders were confident enough in O’Connell to send Jimmy Garoppolo to the bench before the season ended, and Jimmy G is now a Los Angeles Ram. It’s hard to argue that either O’Connell or Minshew is a long-term solution as a franchise quarterback, though, and the team is likely to struggle at moving the ball in the early going unless they make a major move before training camp comes.
The team could also have benefited from one of the top cornerbacks available in the draft, but they waited until Day 3, when they picked up Decamerion Richardson. He has a lot of talent and speed but will need a lot of seasoning before he is ready to start in the NFL. This means that both Brandon Facyson and Jack Jones are likely to retain their starting positions at corner. Another Raider from last year who will move to full-time starter is right tackle Thayer Munford Jr, who started 10 games at that position last year, earning a 74.1 overall score from Pro Football Focus and now has the full-time jobs.
Raiders who are likely on their way down the depth chart include Divine Deablo, a starter in the pass rush who is entering the last year of his contract. The Raiders took Tommy Eichenberg in the fifth round; it was surprising that such a physical run defender slipped that far in the draft, and Deablo could become expendable if Eichenberg lives up to his potential. Right guard Cody Whitehair’s position is threatened by Jackson Powers-Johnson, who played center at Oregon this past season, who also knows Luke Getsy’s offense.
NFL Win-Loss: Dallas Cowboys
Can the Cowboys really sink from NFC East champions to the basement of the conference after one off-season? Well, they don’t have a quality tailback anymore as Tony Pollard went to Tennessee via free agency. Pollard replaced Derrick Henry, who expressed public interest in playing for the Cowboys, but the team did not contact him. Reports said that the Cowboys had their eye on Jonathan Brooks out of Texas, only to see him go to Carolina ten slots before Dallas’ second-round pick. Then their eyes may have shifted to Trey Benson of Florida State in the third round, but the Arziona Cardinals scooped him up seven picks ahead of the Cowboys. Now the team has signed former star Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year deal. Elliott had shown signs of decline in his last year in Dallas before heading to New England for a season. With the Patriots last year, he set career lows in many key metrics, such as rushing attempts (182) and yards (642), rushing touchdowns (3), yards per attempt (3.5), longest carry (17) and first downs (17). He only started five games, a number that should increase with Dallas as their next back on the depth chart is Royce Freeman.
With quarterback Dak Prescott entering the last year of his contract, some thought the team would take a signal-caller in the draft. If you remember that they sent their fourth-round draft pick to San Francisco last year for Trey Lance, then technically they already have done that. Prescott enters 2024 as the starter without any reassurances going into 2025 – just like his head coach, Mike McCarthy. It looks like the team is preparing for a major rebuild should the team fail to end its conference championship drought nearing 30 years.
At wide receiver, the Cowboys have CeeDee Lamb entering the last year of his rookie deal. It’s likely that Lamb will hold out for an extension once training camp rolls around, and the team has little in the way of depth after him. Brandin Cooks will return as the second wide receiver, but after that, things get a bit scary. In the sixth round of the draft, the team took Ryan Flournoy out of Southeast Missouri State. He ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the combine and was in the 83rd percentile or higher in bench press, broad jump, and vertical jump. The team also has KaVontae Turpin, David Durden, Jalen Cropper, Jalen Brookw, and Jalen Tolbert on the roster, but except for Turpin’s danger as a kick returner, only Tolbert has shown the promise to develop into a starter.
At tight end, the Cowboys have a decent duo. Jake Ferguson had a terrific 2024, and Luke Schoonmaker emerged as a solid blocking tight end with decent hands when he did need to catch passes. Their starting offensive line will likely have two rookies.
It will be interesting to see how the defense responds to the loss of coordinator Dan Quinn, now the head coach in Washington. The starters at safety (Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson) will return after a season in which giving up the chunk play was a problem. The starting cornerbacks, DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs, are back. Bland had a huge year with interceptions last season, and he and Diggs have reputations for jumping routes and taking risks. Will teams make them pay for that? The problems on their defense really occupied the middle, as the Cowboys failed to stop the run over and over, including in their embarrassing home playoff loss to Green Bay. They added Marist Liufau out of Notre Dame at linebacker, as the team has lost Leighton Vander Esch from the center of its defense and hasn’t figured out how to stop the run since.
NFL Win-Loss: Carolina Panthers
The Panthers started 0-5 a year ago as their season turned into a house of horrors for quarterback Bryce Young. They did add some offensive talent around him in the draft, taking wide receiver Xavier Legette and tailback Jonathan Brooks with their first two choices. On Day 3, they added an interesting tight end in Ja’Tavion Sanders, and if that pick pays off, the skill positions have all taken a major upgrade over the last two offseasons.
One problem that the Panthers have is their lack of cap space – about $8.97 million at this writing, according to Spotrac. The front office could do some restructuring with contracts, or we could see some players traded or waived, but that’s the number today. The team could use a safety after Jeremy Chinn went to Washington in free agency and the team released Vonn Bell. Quandre Diggs notched 95 tackles and forced five fumbles with Seattle last year, but he was a salary-cap sacrifice. Then there’s cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who made significant contributions in Dallas last year. The Panthers only added one cornerback in the draft, and that came in Day 3 when they drafted Chau Smith-Wade out of Washington State, despite his lack of size. Gilmore played with the Panthers during the misguided Matt Rhule era and could be willing to come back. Either way, putting all of these new pieces together will take time for the team to gel, which could lead to a slow start out of the gate.
Odds to Win Super Bowl 59 – Top 10
- San Francisco 49ers +525
- Kansas City Chiefs +600
- Baltimore Ravens +900
- Buffalo Bills +1200
- Detroit Lions +1200
- Cincinnati Bengals +1400
- Dallas Cowboys +1500
- Houston Texans +1500
- Philadelphia Eagles +1600
- Miami Dolphins +2000
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