Week 1 of the NFL preseason is here. Though we did see the dynamic kickoff for the first time last week, we were prevented from enjoying a complete exhibition between the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans in the Hall of Fame Game thanks to a (merciful, if you ask me) lightning storm. Fear not, from Thursday to Sunday there will be 16 games, beginning with two Thursday night matchups (Carolina Panthers-New England Patriots and Detroit Lions-New York Giants) and ending with the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams on Sunday evening.
This is always a fun weekend to birth our new player obsessions and get a first look at the handful of rookie quarterbacks who will play, and we’ll talk about them below. But it’s not just about passers. Here are a few things I’m watching for in particular when action kicks off tonight.
Giants’ depth at offensive line
About a third of the Giants’ offensive line is still either on the PUP list or not practicing. After last season, where struggles or injuries derailed the season and, one could argue, a path for Daniel Jones to reclaim a long-term grip on the starting quarterback position, the Giants had no choice but to go into 2024 cross-training their offensive linemen at different positions in hope of creating a safety net. That means big nights for players like Jake Kubas (the undrafted free agent out of North Dakota State), Austin Schlottman, Josh Ezudu and other players on the back end of the depth chart. There are a few units populated by relatively unknown players and units full of players we’re still waiting to break out. I would argue that the success or failure of the Giants offensive line has more riding on it than just about any of them.
Caleb Williams/Jayden Daniels/Drake Maye/Bo Nix/Michael Penix Jr./J.J. McCarthy
It would make sense to see about a quarter from our six rookie first-round picks this weekend and likely more from those who are legitimately behind on the depth chart like Maye, Penix and McCarthy.
I look back at last year and it’s stunning how justified I thought Carolina was in taking Bryce Young and how wrong I thought the Texans were to take C.J. Stroud, who struggled during an opener against the Patriots with a versatile blitz package throwing him for a bit of a loop. Young took some safe completions and plodded down the field. So, it’s worth noting that the entirety of someone’s fate will not be decided. That said, Daniels will be facing a very deep Jets defense. While all the schemes will be largely vanilla, quarterbacks who have less adequate help against teams who have more pass-rushing depth will struggle more. I’m thinking of Bo Nix possibly getting a healthy dose of Laiatu Latu should their playing times line up (though Nix was third on the depth chart released Tuesday).
As an aside, I’m hoping this preseason ends the moronic and draconian step of placing a rookie quarterback last on the depth chart to make them “earn it.” We’re all aware of how the NFL works. If Sean Payton plays Zach Wilson more than Bo Nix this weekend because Nix has yet to “earn” playoff time, he’s willingly sacrificing valuable reps for a player who will likely be Payton’s Week 1 starter.
Physicality
Albert Breer and I talked a lot about this on our most recent MMQB Podcast. Dan Campbell and the Lions have helped swing the league’s pendulum back to a less risk-averse approach to the preseason. The Giants are doing almost exclusively 11-on-11 drills. Teams are maxing out on their opportunities to practice longer and in pads. We always see cyclical periods in the league, and now the prevailing theory may be that callousing players to the inevitable run-ins with injury could actually minimize the tidal wave of season-altering injuries we see early in each season once workloads become significant.
So, could players be working longer? We mentioned the Giants above, but it’s worth adding that Daniel Jones asked to play in the opener against Detroit after Daboll embarked on a preseason predicated on facing adverse situations. Aaron Rodgers, too, blamed his not playing in the preseason on head coach Robert Saleh mentioning the time-honored progression formula that players used to abide by (one quarter in the first game, a half in the second, into the third quarter in the third).
Cleveland Browns’ backup QBs
I wrote something similar a year ago about Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who really impressed during the preseason. Now, the Browns have both Jameis Winston and Tyler Huntley on the roster, supplanting the popular and efficient Joe Flacco. I’m going to be watching the backup quarterback situation closely, as should everyone with a vested interest in Cleveland this season. Watson cannot struggle through the entirety of a season in year three of this monstrous, fully guaranteed contract. Flacco being ousted, probably because of his ability to actually run the Kevin Stefanski offense, created the need for game-ready quarterbacks on this depth chart who didn’t have public sentiment on their side and wouldn’t elicit cheers from the sideline if Watson struggled on the field.
That can change if Winston looks good this preseason, or Huntley who strung together a few decent games before enough of a film library was built on him in Baltimore and he lost some of his potency.
New York Jets offense
Here’s one: Lest we forget, the Jets are incredibly all in on this season. But if we were to circle the weak spots on their roster, one could argue they’re a little thin behind Garrett Wilson at wide receiver. It’s not like Allen Lazard and Mike Williams aren’t good. But one is more valuable as a blocker and one is prone to injury. This Jets regime understands that if they don’t make serious noise, no one is coming back in 2025. So, if the Raiders make Davante Adams available after waiting out the conclusion of the Brandon Aiyuk deal to formulate a market and return for their unhappy wide receiver, it would make sense for New York to acquire him once certain the offense can’t thrive without him. Adams is better than any option on the Jets roster, and combining him with Wilson would immediately thrust them into the best-team-in-the-NFL stratosphere. If this deal is even potentially on the table, the Jets should take it regardless of what happens in the preseason.
That said, it’s better to arrive at that place organically and not because your skill-position players beyond Wilson are not up to par. I’m interested to see what kind of routes Malachi Corley is going to run. Head coach Robert Saleh said last week that “his life has been crossers and bubble screens,” meaning that Corley isn’t proficient in a more diverse NFL route tree. That’s probably not because Corley can’t do it, but because he was a human wrecking ball at Western Kentucky and his collegiate offense didn’t have the time nor the desire to teach him when he was more valuable close to the line of scrimmage.
So, a big preseason by Corley isn’t going to move the Jets off a big trade (should they still be interested in making one). But it will make them feel better about ignoring the price tag.
Las Vegas Raiders…everything
This is a team that’s about to be co-owned in some capacity by Tom Brady, employs a full-time converted interim coach and is working through a quarterback battle. There’s a ton of intrigue here. The Raiders also have a host of really high-upside picks I’ve been wanting to see in game action who will specifically get a lot of playing time in the preseason. Among them? New Hampshire running back Dylan Laube, whom Antonio Pierce praised as an able pass blocker (translation: he’ll play more in the preseason now that we know he won’t get his quarterback killed). We probably won’t get any insight into how the Raiders are going to use Brock Bowers, but seeing him matched up against different body types on defense can provide a bit of an indication as to how this will look in the regular season. And the alternating QB competition is also fun. This reminds me of the low-drama but ultimately high consequence Baker Mayfield-Kyle Trask battle in Tampa Bay from a year ago.
Los Angeles Rams playmakers emerging
After the rise of Puca Nakua last year, I think this offense has a high potential to roll out yet another high-volume contributor who comes from nowhere. The youth movement in L.A. has been expedited thanks to an understanding of what the coaching staff wants and how to streamline the teaching of Sean McVay’s complex system. Tyler Johnson, a former fifth-round pick who has bounced around and landed with the Rams last year, looks electric in camp. Sixth-round pick Jordan Whittington also looks great and I’m flustered about not seeing it earlier. At Texas, he had some crushing blocks on tape, which immediately puts him in the conversation for this McVay offense. Just ask his former Longhorns teammate, who is already setting some high expectations.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Preseason 2024 Week 1: Seven Things to Watch This Weekend.
