Early 2024 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 1 games

The 2024 NFL schedule has been released, and everyone is now counting down the days to Week 1. You know what that means...It's time to make our way-too-early NFL picks and predictions for Week 1 of the 2024 season.

The NFL did a pretty good job of putting together the Week 1 slate of matchups, especially with the season opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. Let's take a look at every game on Week 1 of the 2024 NFL schedule and try our best to call our shot from a few months out. We will make our picks and predictions in the order of when each of these games was leaked.

2024 NFL picks and score predictions for Week 1 games

Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs

Thursday Night Football

A rematch of last year's AFC Championship Game pits the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs with the reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are not completely a "new look" team, but the biggest difference on this roster is going to be a substantial one.

Derrick Henry is one of the new members of the Baltimore Ravens, and with no offense meant toward the likes of Gus Johnson or JK Dobbins, having Henry in the mix for the Ravens could be a deadly combination with Lamar Jackson at quarterback.

For the Chiefs, the biggest difference will be new weapons at wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes to hopefully start spreading the ball around to. Travis Kelce has been the focus of the passing game for Kansas City and with Rashee Rice not likely in the picture this season, the Chiefs will lean heavily on free agent acqusition Hollywood Brown and first-round pick Xavier Worthy. That's a lot of speed, but the Ravens have speed at corner with Nate Wiggins coming in as one of the fastest corners in this rookie class.

This should be a fun matchup with a lot of fireworks and two of the toughest defenses in the NFL.

Prediction: Chiefs win 27-24

Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Friday night game (played in Brazil)

Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts are taking over Brazil in Week 1 of the 2024 season.

As the NFL International Series expands, the Packers and Eagles will be one of the most interesting matchups for Week 1 of the 2024 season, and you can't help but feel like this is going to be a bit of a statement game for Philadelphia. The Eagles started last season with a 10-1 record and wound up getting bounced out of the Wild Card round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who barely even had a winning record.

It was an ugly end to last year, but the Eagles hired Vic Fangio as their new defensive coordinator and brought in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean to upgrade one of the worst secondaries and pass defenses in the NFL a year ago. They also added Bryce Huff to the pass rush, giving Fangio a ton of weapons to work with.

The Packers have one of the most talented rosters in the entire NFL. They are young, but they are well-coached, and Matt LaFleur (along with the rest of his staff) deserves a lot of credit for the way they've developed talent over the last handful of years while sending Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams out the door.

As good as the Packers are, I think the Eagles are going to start the season strong with the defense looking completely different than what we saw last year.

Prediction: Eagles win 31-21

Dallas Cowboys @ Cleveland Browns

Sunday, 4:25 PM ET

The matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns in Week 1 is a matchup of two teams that could both be considerably worse this coming season than they were a year ago.

Let's start with the Dallas Cowboys, who suffered a ton of losses this offseason on both sides of the ball, including losing defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Quinn was a godsend for the Cowboys just a couple of years ago when he transformed their defense from one of the five worst in the league to one of the five best. The Cowboys tailored their personnel on that side of the ball to Quinn's preferences and now Mike Zimmer is going to have to figure out how to get the best out of what's left.

Offensively, the Cowboys are replacing Tyron Smith with first-round pick Tyler Guyton and starting center Tyler Biadasz with third-round pick Cooper Beebe. Ezekiel Elliott is back in the fold with Tony Pollard bolting in free agency for the Tennessee Titans, and the pressure is squarely on Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott to make lemonade out of lemons this season or heads could roll.

The Cleveland Browns will present Dallas with one of its greatest challenges of the season defensively. They are elite on the defensive front, led by Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. Jim Schwartz is going to diversify his looks up front and make life miserable for the young players on the Dallas offensive line.

It's just hard to know what the Browns are getting out of Deshaun Watson at this point. He's only appeared in 12 games the last two seasons, and missed the entire year before that as well. The Browns' defense is going to keep them in pretty much every game this season, and I think will get them the win in this one.

Prediction: Browns win 26-23

New York Jets @ San Francisco 49ers

Monday Night Football

Much is being made of Aaron Rodgers' return to the Bay Area in this particular matchup, but the return of Aaron Rodgers, in general, is what we're all eager to see here. How is the 40 going on 41-year-old quarterback going to look coming off of a major injury?

How are the Jets going to look offensively with rumors that they tried to replace Nathaniel Hackett this offseason coming to light?

They didn't exactly draw the most favorable matchup here. The San Francisco 49ers are one of the league's most well-oiled machines at this point, but the good news for the Jets is that Robert Saleh (a former 49ers assistant) is very familiar with the way they do things. The return of Saleh to the sideline in San Francisco is probably the biggest storyline here outside of the return of Rodgers, and this game will go a long way toward dictating the perception of the Jets early on in the season.

The 49ers are the reigning NFC champions. They didn't get worse anywhere this offseason. Even with Rodgers coming back, I think people are going to be surprised at how easily San Francisco is able to dismantle this Jets team.

This one will be close for three quarters, but I think the 49ers are getting the win.

Prediction: 49ers win 31-22

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Atlanta Falcons

Sunday

The NFL missed an opportunity here to have the season open between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers, a revenge matchup between Russell Wilson and the team that is paying him nearly $38 million to be on the Steelers this season.

Alas, it's an "Arthur Smith revenge game". That headline doesn't sell quite as much, but this is an intriguing game nonetheless. The Atlanta Falcons became one of the most interesting teams of the 2024 offseason rather quickly when they signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal worth $180 million and $100 million guaranteed.

They became even more interesting when they went and drafted Michael Penix Jr. with the 8th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. We all expect this matchup to be Kirk Cousins vs. Russell Wilson, but what if it's Michael Penix Jr. vs. Justin Fields?

Now that would be wild.

The Falcons have so much talent offensively but the Steelers counter with one of the best defenses in the league. That defense is going to be relied upon to carry the team once again with Arthur Smith installing a new offense and trying to make things work with Russell Wilson, whose time with the Denver Broncos is something everyone wants to put behind them as quickly as possible.

This game might come down to which QB makes fewer mistakes.

Prediction: Falcons win 22-18

Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints

Sunday

Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season will feature a battle between two NFC South opponents, the Carolina Panthers traveling to New Orleans to take on the Saints.

It's been a wild year-plus for the Carolina Panthers, hasn't it? They hired a new regime under head coach Frank Reich, made a huge move to go up and get the #1 overall pick, took Bryce Young, and watched CJ Stroud -- the guy who went with the very next pick -- win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and look like a total superstar. Now, they've reset at head coach again, hiring Dave Canales from the division rival Buccaneers. Hope is renewed for Bryce Young.

But this Panthers team is still "in progress" at this point.

The Saints are a veteran-laden team with other major areas of intrigue. Specifically, how is this team going to fare on the offensive line? Are they all the way out on 2022 first-round pick Trevor Penning after giving 2024 first-rounder Taliese Fuaga looks at left tackle? Will Ryan Ramczyk play again?

The Saints were solid last year, but super unpredictable. Weird stuff can happen in Week 1 of the NFL season and I'm going to call a Panthers win with Bryce Young playing really well.

Prediction: Panthers win 23-20

Washington Commanders @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sunday

This should be a fascinating welcome to the NFL for Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, who gets to face off against the reigning NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and one of the toughest defenses in the league.

Welcome to the NFL, rook.

The Buccaneers had a really solid bounce-back year in 2023, all things considered. They had a losing record in Tom Brady's final season, and a lot of people assumed they would be one of the worst teams in the league last year. They wound up beating the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs and giving Baker Mayfield a $100 million contract to stick around.

Not only that, but the Bucs have invested a lot of money elsewhere on guys they wanted to bring back to this roster, including giving Antoine Winfield the biggest contract for a defensive back in NFL history.

It's going to be a tough opener for Dan Quinn and his new quarterback, and I see the Bucs taking this one at home.

Prediction: Buccaneers win 21-16

Los Angeles Rams @ Detroit Lions

Sunday Night Football

One of the best matchups in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season will happen in Detroit as the Lions take on their old pal Matthew Stafford in a battle of two of the greatest uniform kits the league has to offer.

The aesthetically pleasing element of this matchup aside, this is a truly great game for the NFL to give to the fans in the first Sunday Night Football slot of the 2024 season.

The Los Angeles Rams were one of the NFL's better stories of last season. They started off slow, but you could see that young team really coming along as the season progressed, and Matthew Stafford was playing great football by the end of the year. How much of that can truly carry over to 2024? That remains to be seen, but this Rams roster is young, hungry, and unfortunately without Aaron Donald.

Even with the loss of Donald (retirement), the Rams figure to be one of the better teams in the NFC West. The Detroit Lions are simply a well-oiled machine at this point.

And their stars offensively are now some of the most well-paid in the entire NFL.

Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Penei Sewell all got brand-new contracts form GM Brad Holmes, a former Rams executive, this offseason. And they were lucrative, record-setting types of deals.

The Lions added to the secondary with their top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, landing both Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw. The makeup of this team is just outstanding, and I think we see them start off the year with a win.

Prediction: Lions win 34-31

Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo Bills

Sunday

The Buffalo Bills will get a chance to prove to fans that they are not as down bad as their offseason made them look. They traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans (of all teams) this offseason. They let Gabe Davis walk. They lost a number of other big-name free agents defensively. They cut Tre'Davious White.

It's a new era in many ways for the Buffalo Bills this year, and they're going to have to prevent the Arizona Cardinals from coming into their house in Week 1 and playing the role of spoiler.

On one end of the spectrum, you have the Buffalo Bills, whose offseason left a lot to be desired. Then you have the Arizona Cardinals, who basically couldn't miss. The Cardinals had about 250 of the 257 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft it felt like, and half of them were in the top 100. All kidding aside, this Arizona roster has been given a considerable boost if only by the arrival of wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., the 4th overall pick in this year's draft.

A healthy Kyler Murray getting Marvin Harrison is great news for Arizona, but can they go into a tough place to play like Buffalo and steal an early win? I'm going to play it safe here, even though the Cardinals should have the Bills on upset alert.

Prediction: Bills win 26-21

Denver Broncos @ Seattle Seahawks

Sunday

This Week 1 matchup is kind of hilarious, when you think about it. It's a matchup between the two exes of Russell Wilson.

It's reminiscent of the episode of The Office when Andy and Dwight are fighting over Angela, and in the midst of the fight, they both bond over their disdain towards her for the way she treated them.

All kidding aside, the Broncos are traveling to Seattle for the season opener for the second time in three years. That's a rarity in today's NFL for an AFC team and NFC team to face off that frequently and not in the Super Bowl. The Broncos have to get off to a hot start this season after looking like one of the worst teams in the league for the first six weeks of the Sean Payton era.

Denver has moved on from Russell Wilson and drafted Bo Nix to come in and run Sean Payton's offense, but what quarterback will they be facing off against? Most likely we will see Geno Smith for the Seahawks, but there's a chance we could see trade acquisition Sam Howell, too.

The Broncos head home to face off against Russell Wilson the week after this, and they might be able to start off this season on a good note, as tough as it is to go into Seattle and get a win. I'm taking Sean Payton over the rookie head coach, even though Mike Macdonald is going to have that defense turned around quicker than people think.

Prediction: Broncos win 23-20

Tennessee Titans @ Chicago Bears

Sunday

The long-awaited debut of #1 overall pick Caleb Williams will happen in Week 1 for Chicago Bears fans, in the Windy City. The Bears will be playing host to the Tennessee Titans in a matchup between two teams who finished among the 10 worst (record-wise) last season.

But both of these teams have a chance to bounce back in a big way in 2024.

The Bears not only landed Caleb Williams, but they brought in both Keenan Allen (via trade with the Chargers) and Rome Odunze (9th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft) to join the likes of DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, and D'Andre Swift (free agent pickup) in a vastly improved offensive weapon arsenal.

The Bears' biggest improvements, however, might be defensively where we saw the addition of Montez Sweat pay off in a big way down the stretch last season. Will Levis of the Titans is going to have his hands full with Sweat coming off the edge, but he's got a new tackle to protect him (1st-round pick JC Latham) and a bunch of weapons to spread the ball to.

The Titans went out and stole Calvin Ridley from the Jaguars this offseason and then added Tyler Boyd after the 2024 NFL Draft. They've got Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears leading the charge at running back after the departure of Derrick Henry. And they may have made the most underrated move of the offseason by trading for cornerback L'Jarius Sneed with the Chiefs.

I don't know if any of that will be able to spoil Caleb Williams' debut, however.

Prediction: Bears win 27-20

Miami Dolphins @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Sunday

Both the Dolphins and Jaguars are still cleaning up the puddle that was left after they each peed their respective seasons down their leg in 2023.

It was not a pretty sight to see for either franchise.

The Dolphins were one of the NFL's most exciting teams for most of the season, throwing up a 70-point game early in the year against the Denver Broncos, and setting new records for the on-field GPS speed measurements each week. And then as quickly as they appeared at the top of everyone's power rankings, they disappeared as soon as they were forced to go to Kansas City for the playoffs.

The Jaguars started the year hot as well, winning eight of their first 11 games and looking like they were establishing themselves as one of the NFL's best up-and-coming teams.

And just like the Dolphins’ season fizzled out, so did the Jaguars’ season. It was an ugly end to the year as the Texans came roaring up the standings and took the Jaguars completely out of the playoffs.

Both of these teams are in need of bounce-back years. As of right now, the Dolphins are the better team on paper, but you can’t help but be intrigued by what kind of impact having an actual defensive coordinator in Ryan Nielson could do for the Jaguars overall.

I’m taking the Dolphins and their track team to win this Week 1 matchup.

Prediction: Dolphins win 34-24

Minnesota Vikings @ New York Giants

Sunday

Hats off to the NFL for finding a way to schedule maybe the most uninteresting game of the entire 2024 season in the first week of the year.

They are mixing it up for us.

The Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants will open up their season facing off against each other in New York, and we’re all going to be on pins and needles waiting to find out what combination of quarterbacks this matchup will be between JJ McCarthy and Sam Darnold for the Vikings and Daniel Jones or Drew Lock for the Giants.

Again, riveting stuff.

As bad as this matchup may be on paper at the quarterback position, you actually have a lot of intrigue here from the standpoint that the coaches of these two teams – Kevin O’Connell and Brian Daboll – have been able to get the most out of whatever guys they have had under center.

The Giants might have one of the more underrated defenses in the NFL right now, and the chance to go up against either Darnold or McCarthy could have them licking their chops going into Week 1. I think the G-Men win a low-scoring affair.

Prediction: Giants win 20-16

New England Patriots @ Cincinnati Bengals

Sunday

It’s a new era for the New England Patriots heading into 2024. We’ll see Bill Belichick this year, but it will be as a TV analyst and not on the sidelines as the head coach of the Patriots. Tom Brady is getting roasted and trying to become an owner of the Raiders.

It’s wild times, indeed.

The Patriots are now under the captainship of Jerod Mayo, who has been seemingly waiting in the wings for this role for quite some time. Mayo is inheriting a really good defense and a rebuilding project on offense. As talented as 3rd overall pick Drake Maye is, it seems like Mayo and the Patriots are going to take it slow with him. I would be shocked if this game wasn’t Joe Burrow vs. Jacoby Brissett, the grizzled veteran journeyman who is making his return to New England.

Speaking of returns, we’re all eagerly anticipating the return of Joe Burrow in 2024. Burrow missed a lot of last season due to a ligament injury in his wrist, and frankly, the injuries have been piling up for him.

How much different will this Bengals team look with Brian Callahan now the head coach of the Titans? Will Burrow be able to hit the ground running?

I’ve got the Bengals winning this game, but it might be a bit of a struggle because of that Patriots defense.

Prediction: Bengals win 23-10

Houston Texans @ Indianapolis Colts

Sunday

All offseason, you’re going to hear about how great the Houston Texans are, and understandably so. The Texans made the playoffs last year, going from worst to first in the AFC South, after they hired DeMeco Ryans as head coach and drafted both the NFL offensive and defensive rookies of the year in quarterback CJ Stroud and EDGE Will Anderson Jr.

The hype train is going off the rails for Houston, especially after big-time acquisitions like their trade for wide receiver Stefon Diggs and big-money free agent pass rusher Danielle Hunter.

On paper, the Texans have got it going on. There’s not much this team lacks overall and you expect a jump forward for everyone on that team, but development and growth in the NFL aren’t always linear.

Speaking of development and growth, how is Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson going to look after missing the majority of his rookie year due to injury? Richardson might be the most imposing figure at the QB position in the league with his combination of size, arm talent, and athleticism. 

Shane Steichen did a really good job with this Colts team last year, a team that was extremely underrated defensively. They can also run the ball well. Don’t be surprised to see Indy shock some people and start off the season with a win at home.

Prediction: Colts win 28-24

Las Vegas Raiders @ Los Angeles Chargers

Sunday

The final Week 1 matchup to be unveiled is an AFC West showdown between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers.

This game will mark Jim Harbaugh’s long-awaited return to the NFL after he built a National Championship team at his alma mater, Michigan. Harbaugh’s return to the NFL is going to be a welcomed sight, and he’ll be expected to take the Chargers from consistent pretenders to actual contenders in the AFC West.

Harbaugh got rid of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason. The Chargers landed Joe Alt with their top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Justin Herbert is going to have a strong running game to lean on and the Chargers simply need to stay healthy to realize the potential they seem to have just about every year.

The Raiders are in a unique situation. They added Gardner Minshew this offseason to compete with Aidan O’Connell, but then they missed out on quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft. With former interim head coach Antonio Pierce being promoted to the full-time gig, this Raiders team is equal parts interesting and terrifying.

Terrifying because did they actually get better on paper? Did they make the right call by not going after anyone like Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, or Mike Vrabel as their next head coach? I think we’re going to see the Harbaugh-led Chargers open the year with a bang.

Prediction: Chargers win 33-17