NFL Power Rankings: Predicting every team's worst-case scenario in 2024

28. Washington Commanders: 3 or 4 wins, Jayden Daniels looks like a bust

Make no mistake about it – the mission for the Washington Commanders in the 2024 season is making sure they know beyond a shadow of a doubt at the end of the year that they’ve got a player in Jayden Daniels. This season is all about Jayden Daniels and his development, and wins are borderline secondary.

Incidentally, if Daniels turns out to be the franchise QB the Commanders hope, the wins will ultimately come. But if Daniels has a Bryce Young-like rookie season, it might be justified to push the panic button in DC. The Commanders have been searching high and low for a long-term answer at the QB position for a really long time and obviously, they believe they’ve got one here. They have to be hoping there’s some good luck in that #2 overall pick, where CJ Stroud fell last year and ended up being named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

27. New England Patriots: 3-5 wins; Drake Maye plays less than 8 games

The 2024 season will be a complete disaster and failure for the Patriots if this team only wins 3-5 games and Drake Maye doesn’t see the field for even half of a season. Absolute failure in that case. The Patriots might want to open the season with Jacoby Brissett as the starting QB because he gives them “the best chance to win” and they might be right about that.

But if we get to week 9 or week 10 and the Patriots only have two or three wins, they need to go to Drake Maye and get into evaluation mode. Yes, the Patriots have a strong defensive roster, but this team has a young core offensively that needs to grow together. If Jacoby Brissett is balling out and this team is winning, then Maye can afford to sit. But if the Patriots are losing and he doesn’t see the field, that would be the worst possible outcome for the team this season.