The 2024 NFL Season will showcase a trio of teams that truly have nothing to lose and are just playing with house money. Let's cover those teams. This is a great spot to be in, as any success above what is likely to happen is all a huge plus.
The Houston Texans were a great example of this, as they quickly turned into a viable team in 2023 with a rookie head coach and quarterback. Their accomplishments last year was all just extra icing on the cake. Could they be in the same situation for 2024?
Let's cover the three teams playing with house money heading into the 2024 NFL Season.
3 teams playing with house money heading into the 2024 NFL Season
Houston Texans
It's easy to see why the Houston Texans are playing with house money. They were in 2023, and they still will be in 2024. The Texans brought in a rookie head coach and a rookie QB in DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud for 2023, ushering in a new era.
Historically, a rookie HC and a rookie QB don't really amount to a ton in year one, but the Texans were an exception to that rule. They won 10 games, the AFC South division, and even won a playoff game. This team is clearly a solid year ahead of schedule, so what they accomplished in 2023 is what we could have expected them to accomplish in 2024.
The Texans loaded up this season for a Super Bowl run, and even if they again get bounced out of the divisional round, it's not like it would amount to a huge failure. Teams don't usually hit their stride with a head coach until year three of four, so the Texans being so early in this tenure gives them time to kind of go with the flow.
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals won four games in the 2023 NFL Season, but they were perhaps the best 4-13 team in NFL history, and the mess that was left for GM Monti Ossenfort to clean up is going to take another full offseason to fix, so as they head into 2024, they've got nothing to lose. If they only win six games, that's fine.
If they surprise and double their win total from 2023, that's amazing, and heck, if they finish with a winning record, they'd also end up being one year ahead of schedule like the Houston Texans. The roster is still not great, but you can begin to see the plan that Ossenfort is trying to implement.
The Cardinals front office surely recognizes that they are another year away from being a truly competitive team, so 2024 is just another part of the rebuild, but they do have enough of a structure in place to be a breakout team.
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings did a hard reset at the QB position, drafting JJ McCarthy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and also signing free agent QB Sam Darnold to a one-year deal. Right now, the plan seems to be for the Vikings to red-shirt McCarthy and give Darnold the reigns while McCarthy learns he ropes.
However, Sam Darnold has actually played pretty well over the last two seasons between the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers. Being that the Vikings have an above-average personnel situation on offense, they may actually get some legitimate performances from their backup QB.
And this is all while McCarthy is still sitting on the bench. We've seen this Vikings team be competitive without Kirk Cousins in the lineup, and do no be surprised if something similar happens again in 2024.