3 NFL rookies who have massive shoes to fill for the 2024 season
There are a ton of players across the NFL who must step into pressure situations. Some of them have massive shoes to fill for the 2024 season.
The NFL is a "what have you done for more lately" type of league, so even for certain rookies, fans and teams sometimes want instant success. And between all of the roster movement that happens with every team, certain players are stepping into pressure-cooker situations.
And in many instances, the player under the most pressure is the quarterback. Is that the case for the 2024 NFL Season? Let's dive into three players with massive shoes to fill for 2024.
3 NFL rookies who have massive shoes to fill for the 2024 season
Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears
It's not that the Chicago Bears have had good QBs in their recent history; they haven't, as both Justin Fields and Mitchell Trubisky were mostly awful, but it's the high-stakes of the situation that Caleb Williams is stepping into that makes this huge shoes to fill. Williams was mostly called a generational prospect when the Bears took him with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
So the pressure is already there for Williams as a prospect, and there's even more pressure with him playing in Chicago. The city is a football city through and through, and with the Bears actually having an impressive roster, all eyes will be on Williams. The Bears quietly finished with seven wins in the 2023 NFL Season, so a winning record is not all that unlikely.
The pressure is on, Caleb.
The entire LA Rams defensive line
With Aaron Donald now retired, the entirety of the LA Rams defensive line have huge shoes to fill, and the unit on paper looks like one of the better ones in the NFL. The Rams added two Florida State players in Jared Verse and Braden Fiske in the 2024 NFL Draft, and have guys like Kobie Turner, Byron Young, and Bobby Brown III returning to the unit.
From top to bottom, the Rams defensive front is quite talented, but Aaron Donald is arguably the best defensive player in the history of the NFL, so the pressure is huge for the Rams DL. The Rams as a whole won 10 games last year and look to have once again entered a Super Bowl contention window.
Their roster is mostly complete, but all eyes will be on their DL without the elite Donald anchoring the unit anymore.
Keon Coleman, WR, Buffalo Bills
With star wide receiver Stefon Diggs no longer in Buffalo, rookie WR Keon Coleman will have huge shoes to fill, as the Bills likely took him with the idea that he turns into Josh Allen's new WR1. From 2020-2023 with Buffalo, Stefon Diggs caught 445 passes for 5,372 yards and 37 touchdowns. Over a 17-game season during his Bills tenure, Diggs averaged 115 receptions, 1,384 yards and 10 touchdowns.
With Diggs now in Houston, the Bills need Coleman to step up in a big way, especially since their QB is the turnover-happy Allen. Even with him throwing to Diggs for four seasons, Allen still threw 57 interceptions in 66 games. It's not crazy to think that Allen is going to throw 20 picks this year, being that the Bills WR room as a whole is just bad at this point.
The pressure for Keon Coleman to turn into a WR1 perhaps as early as his rookie season is huge.