The NFL Season Recap: A Season To Remember

The 2023-2024 NFL season was incredible. From Puka Nacua’s ascension to the Philadelphia Eagles' tush push, this was a memorable season. We will be breaking down all the best storylines of this season. Some could be groups of players, teams, or the whole NFL.

This 2023 draft class was/will be incredible. The word “was” is in there because it is the truth. This draft class featured top picks showing out as well as the players drafted in the bottom couple of rounds. The standout teams this draft were the Texans, Lions, and Rams. The Texans had the 2nd and 3rd pick in this previous draft and drafted very well with both. With the second pick, they drafted C.J. Stroud, who was one of the (if not the) best quarterback rookies in rookie quarterback history. Stroud won OROY (Offensive Rookie of the Year). As the Texans' third pick, they selected Will Anderson Jr., who won DROY (Defensive Rookie of the Year) after a dominant defensive season. The Lions standouts were Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam Laporta. Gibbs was originally considered a bad selection but then showed his value, recording 1261 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns. Laporta came into the league and was immediately one of the best tight ends in the league, having 10 receiving touchdown receptions. The Rams drafted Puka Nacua, who broke records for being the best rookie wide receiver of all time. Nacua had 1,486 receiving yards this season, the most all-time by a rookie. Kobie Turner had 9.5 sacks as a rookie, which is incredible.

Some teams aren’t cut from the same cloth. Teams like the Chiefs have a killer mentality. They will never go down without a fight. They always have more desire to win than the team they are playing against. The Eagles are somewhat the opposite of the Chiefs. In their first 11 games, the Eagles went 10-1. At times though, they looked shaky. All of their games weren’t blowouts. Most of their games were close or even 1-score games. In their final 6 games of the regular season, the Eagles went 1-5. Eek. In their round 1 playoff game, they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rounding out their season 1-6. What happened to this team that was in the Super Bowl last year? Some people think nothing but good. They traded for Deandre Swift and had a great draft this offseason. They traded for one of the premier free safeties in the league in Kevin Byard III. Their draft was mainly defense-related and somehow their points allowed per game average went up 5 points per game. Something that wasn’t very evident happened to this team that caused a steep — and I mean steep — drop off of production from the Eagles.

And in the end, it is once again the Chiefs. It is hard to defy sports like this. Time and time again, the Chiefs wound up as underdogs in the playoffs. That won’t happen next season. We have seen Patrick Mahomes morph into someone potentially better than Tom Brady. That has never happened before. People are now talking about Mahomes potentially beating Brady’s record of 7 rings. Only one other player has ever had 5. Mahomes is making a statement, and so are his teammates.

Chris Jones, a superstar defensive tackle, went under the radar this season. He recorded a team-leading 10.5 sacks, 17th in the league. In the Super Bowl though, he pressured the quarterback too many times to count. He constantly interfered with Brock Purdy, making it hard for him to do anything. Purdy constantly missed throws because Jones was unstoppable on the line of scrimmage.

Overall, what a season. Most teams were competitive this season (sorry to the Panthers), which made this season great for most fans. This season had so many offensive weapons, as well as some big seasons for defensive players. Lamar Jackson was down in the MVP race for a while but had an incredible final month that propelled him to an MVP. T.J. Watt was the ring-leader to win DPOY, but Myles Garrett won. We also learned that Tyreek Hill may be old, but is still one of the best players in the league.