FantasySP Expert Predictions for 2024 NFL Season

With the beginning of the season imminent, it’s time to make our predictions for the 2024 season. Everyone knows what’s going to happen going into every season; remember how Philadelphia was going to cruise through the NFC again to the Super Bowl last season?

Injuries affect every season differently, and when each team only plays 17 games, a random bounce or two can take a team from a division champion to sitting home watching the playoffs. No matter how much we think we know, we really don’t know all that we know we think we know.

The results below are pretty chalk; no one went too far off the wall with anything. It shows how dominant the teams at the top seem, though, as the Chiefs and 49ers are far and away the betting favorites to return to the big game.

Ted Chmyz, Morgan Rode, Mark Morales-Smith, Brant Tedeschi and Daniel Hepner made their picks for each division winner, conference champion and the Super Bowl champion come February 9. Everyone has the right to change their mind with new information during the season, but these are, in ink, our predictions for the 2024 NFL season.

AFC East

There’s a lot of potential in this division, but nobody has really reached that next level. The Pats are bad after decades of dominance. New York is hoping Aaron Rodgers can take them over the top, but it’s the exact same situation as last year, and we saw how that played out. The other two teams are at the top, seemingly split as favorites.

• Ted: Buffalo Bills
• Morgan: Miami Dolphins
• Mark: Miami Dolphins
• Brant: Miami Dolphins
• Daniel: Miami Dolphins

We favor Miami here, but I’d bet it’s a razor-thin margin for most. The Bills have won the division each of the past four seasons after 11 straight division championships for New England. With talent leaving in free agency the last few years, Buffalo looks more vulnerable than they have since Tom Brady was in the division.

We keep waiting for Miami to reach the elites, but they haven’t quite made it. There are times the Dolphins look like the best offense in football, but they have fizzled toward the end of the year and faltered in the playoffs. With Buffalo teetering, this could very well be Miami’s chance to seize a home playoff game rather than traveling to frozen Kansas City.

AFC North

Last year’s top seed in the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens, reside in perhaps the best current division in football. It wouldn’t be a surprise if any of the four teams made the playoffs, and each could even conceivably win the division; not many quartets can say that.

Pittsburgh has had a good roster but terrible quarterback play the last few seasons; upgraded play under center could ignite the team. Cleveland might have the best roster in football, but again, quarterback play has held them back. Joe Burrow is healthy, meaning anything is possible in Cincinnati.

• Ted: Baltimore Ravens 
• Morgan: Baltimore Ravens
• Mark: Baltimore Ravens
• Brant: Baltimore Ravens
• Daniel: Cleveland Browns

The favorite is clear, though, and for good reason. Baltimore is the betting favorite and has the reigning MVP, two-time winner Lamar Jackson. There are going to be three new starters on the offensive line, though, so the Ravens will have to prove they can coalesce quickly, especially with a dominant 2023 defense in Kansas City waiting in Week 1.

Cleveland gets a little love because of their top-level talent. The Browns may have had the best defense in football last year, and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett will be terrorizing quarterbacks again.

AFC South

Last year’s division champs, the Houston Texans, came out of nowhere to jump from second overall pick to winning a playoff game. With a young star quarterback and head coach already in place, the Texans imported Stefon Diggs (trade) and Danielle Hunter (free agency) among others to add to their high-level talent.

The other three teams also all have young quarterbacks and reasons to expect improvement, but Houston looks like a burgeoning juggernaut, ready to compete for years.

• Ted: Houston Texans 
• Morgan: Houston Texans
• Mark: Houston Texans
• Brant: Houston Texans
• Daniel: Jacksonville Jaguars

Unsurprisingly, the Texans rule the predictions. They seem to have nailed the most important position in sports and have a few years to stack the roster before having to pay C.J. Stroud record-breaking money (which will be topped not long after). I expect Houston to continue being aggressive adding players, maybe even with an in-season trade.

For the second straight division, I chose someone different partly to switch it up and partly because I believe in the team. Jacksonville was in the exact position last year that Houston is this year, having won the division and a playoff game in 2022 with thoughts Trevor Lawrence would become elite.

It didn’t happen that way, but we’re only a year removed, and the Jags added talent in the offseason, including former Buffalo center Mitch Morse. The Plexiglass Principle says teams that take huge jumps often regress the following season, so there’s a path in which the Texans fall to Earth a bit and Jacksonville takes the division.

AFC West

The defending champs might have the easiest path to a division title. No other team has better Vegas odds to win their division, and the combination of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid seem to set a floor of the playoffs for the Chiefs. There’s not a lot else to say:

• Ted: Kansas City Chiefs
• Morgan: Kansas City Chiefs
• Mark: Kansas City Chiefs
• Brant: Kansas City Chiefs
• Daniel: Kansas City Chiefs

I can’t go against the grain on this one. KC feels like the Golden State Warriors at their peak, walking through the regular season until starting the real games.

Brant offered a take in which there might be more resistance: “I think the Chiefs will ultimately win the division, but boy is it going to be tough this year. The Raiders will be competitive. Harbaugh on the Chargers will make life difficult. I think 10 or 11 wins max for Kansas City.”

The top-level talent in Vegas could make something happen if Gardner Minshew plays high-level quarterback; Harbaugh was the most sought-after coach for years, and with a possible star in Justin Herbert at quarterback, there is reason for optimism.

It would be a major upset if the Chiefs didn’t finish the year as the AFC West champion, though. (And the less said about the Denver Broncos, the better.)

NFC East

It seems like two teams are going to battle for the division while the other two toil around talented players. Both the Giants and Commanders have exciting young players but enough holes on the roster to sink their playoff hopes. New York’s quarterback questions, in particular, are likely to drop them below a competitive level.

• Ted: Philadelphia Eagles 
• Morgan: Philadelphia Eagles
• Mark: Dallas Cowboys
• Brant: Dallas Cowboys
• Daniel: Philadelphia Eagles

Instead, it’s a battle between the previous two division champs, Philadelphia and Dallas. Both teams have Super Bowl aspirations and the top-line talent to get there. Philly made a few high-profile additions in the offseason, most notably stealing Saquon Barkley from the Giants.

Dallas didn’t add much in free agency and was maligned for it, but it wasn’t long ago that we were chastising teams for making big splurges in free agency because it barely ever worked; Dallas might be the smartest team in the room watching everyone else overspend because the cap took a huge jump.

This is a 50/50 proposition and a battle likely to extend through December and maybe even into January.

NFC North

If the AFC North isn’t the best division, the NFC North might be the next choice. The Vikings are projected at the bottom while having maybe the best receiver in football. The injury to quarterback J.J. McCarthy takes away an option, but it probably doesn’t change a lot about their 2024 outcome. Minnesota is a talented team who probably can’t compete with the top dogs.

Chicago is a hot pick to jump into contention after two straight offseasons of importing top-line talent into the passing game. Rookie blue-chipper Caleb Williams is surrounded by maybe the best group of pass catchers in football, giving Bears fans big dreams in the first year of the Williams era.

• Ted: Green Bay Packers
• Morgan: Green Bay Packers
• Mark: Detroit Lions
• Brant: Green Bay Packers
• Daniel: Detroit Lions

It’s a 50/50 fight at the top again, though. Being that Brant runs this website, let’s give him a little more ink: “It’s obviously a toss up between the Packers and Lions, but I give the nod to the Packers if they stay healthy. They were unbelievably good last year and will be even better this year.”

I think we kind of kept waiting for the Packers to fall off a little, but they rode Jordan Love to the playoffs and upset the Cowboys in Dallas. This team looks primed to compete in both the division and conference.

And yet the Lions were THIS close to making the Super Bowl. They led by 17 points at halftime of the NFC Championship Game. Most of the contributors are back, and the team made multiple upgrades at their weakest spot: cornerback.

Any of the four could make the playoffs, but this division seems like a dead heat between Green Bay and Detroit in a race that could extend to the final week of the season.

NFC South

Atlanta might have the biggest expectation to improve of any team in 2024. After adding three top-10 skill players in the draft but sticking them with underwhelming quarterbacks, the Falcons finally brought in Kirk Cousins this offseason to take the final step toward competing.

Last year’s division champs in Tampa Bay will have something to say about that, especially as they are bringing back many of the major pieces that drove their success. The Saints and Panthers both feel below the level of contention, but no one here has a stranglehold on the NFC South.

• Ted: Atlanta Falcons
• Morgan: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Mark: Atlanta Falcons
• Brant: Atlanta Falcons
• Daniel: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Expectations are that the two top teams will fight for the division but will be below the level of the best in the conference. Atlanta has allure after making a major upgrade at the most important position. This division is a toss-up heading into the season.

NFC West

Every team here is intriguing. The Rams won the Super Bowl several years back and boast a talented team, including a high-level quarterback. Seattle has seemingly been nailing the draft for several years running and has a deep roster. The Cardinals are probably still short on talent to really compete, but Kyler Murray is back and Marvin Harrison Jr. could open a new world offensively. We all know how this is going to go, though…

• Ted: San Francisco 49ers
• Morgan: San Francisco 49ers
• Mark: San Francisco 49ers
• Brant: San Francisco 49ers
• Daniel: San Francisco 49ers

Another clean sweep here, as the 49ers have been a juggernaut for several years, only being stopped by the best teams and injuries to every quarterback on the roster. This team is built to succeed and overcome injury, sporting multiple high-level options on offense and stars at every level of the defense.

With the whole team back after contract disputes in the offseason, San Francisco looks primed to steamroll the competition again on the way to the playoffs.

AFC Conference Champion

• Ted: Kansas City Chiefs
• Morgan: Kansas City Chiefs
• Mark: Kansas City Chiefs
• Brant: Baltimore Ravens - The Chiefs came together perfectly for their playoff run last season, but each year it just gets tougher.
• Daniel: Kansas City Chiefs

NFC Conference Champion

• Ted: San Francisco 49ers
• Morgan: San Francisco 49ers
• Mark: Detroit Lions
• Brant: San Francisco 49ers
• Daniel: San Francisco 49ers

Super Bowl Pick

• Ted: Kansas City Chiefs
• Morgan: Kansas City Chiefs
• Mark: Kansas City Chiefs
• Brant: San Francisco 49ers
• Daniel: San Francisco 49ers

We are such an unoriginal bunch of jabronies. It comes back to the overwhelming odds, though, and perceived likelihood that Kansas City and San Francisco find their way back to the Super Bowl. A few others, like the Ravens and Lions, can make noise, but predicting most teams to realistically win their conference is mostly just a shot in the dark right now.

So, there you have it: FantasySP projects 2024 to look a lot like 2023. It feels a little like the NBA a few years back when it seemed the Warriors and Cavs were always going to meet in the Finals. Plenty will happen to throw things into chaos, but it’s hard to see where change is going to come from entering Week 1.