These two rookie QBs could face an insanely tough schedule in 2024 NFL Season

Even though the 2024 NFL Schedule is not out yet, each team knows who they are playing, and these two rookie QBs could have an insanely tough first year in the NFL. Strength of schedule is a huge factor for teams. Getting a hard schedule could really set a franchise back for a year, and for the teams that hope to start rookie passers, it's a tough test in their first season.

According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis:

"With odds released for all 32 NFL teams, we are now able to calculate NFL Strength of Schedule using projected win totals from Vegas oddsmakers."

- Warren Sharp

Using these projected win totals, the five teams with the toughest schedules in the 2024 NFL Season are the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings. So if you're taking notes at home, two rookie QBs in Drake Maye of the Patriots and JJ McCarthy of the Vikings could be set for a tough schedule in their rookie seasons.

Now both teams did sign a veteran bridge QB; the Patriots signed Jacoby Brissett and the Vikings signed Sam Darnold. Given that it's not expected that some of these rookies will just have the starting QB job given to them, both Maye and McCarthy should have to "win" the job over the summer.

And if they do that, they could be under some pretty brutal circumstances in year one in the NFL. Now this could end up being a good thing for their development; being exposed to tougher competition should in theory only make them better. But it could also hurt their development if they play poorly enough to be taken out of the lineup.

No matter how you slice it, both the Patriots and Vikings have two of the toughest schedules in the NFL for the 2024 season, so both Drake Maye and JJ McCarthy could be in store for some tough action.