The power balance of the NFL doesn’t remain the same for long. The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams both emerged as playoff entrants from the NFC West. The expectation is that both teams will return in 2024, but history tells us the only constant in professional football is change.
As training camp draws nearer, I think a team that has a reasonable chance to be the biggest surprise of 2024 is the Arizona Cardinals.
Why the Cardinals? They went just 4-13 in their first season with Jonathan Gannon. Kyler Murray returned mid-year to put up middling stats in 8 games, and the jury is still out whether he should be Arizona’s franchise quarterback.