There’s been no shortage of amazing breakout performances this season in the NFL. From Sam Darnold’s wild heroics, to the Lions’ stellar play at every skill position, to defensive surprises like the Denver Broncos.
While those players will all be celebrated in due time, today we talk about the players we expected big things out of in 2024 and just failed to deliver. This isn’t always their fault, and some of the guys on this list are unquestionably victims of circumstance — but still, we’ve narrowed it down to TK guys who we thought would take over the NFL this season and just … didn’t.
Aaron Rodgers, QB — New York Jets
Aaron Rodgers has been … fine. The issue is that the Jets didn’t go all-in for “fine.” This organization essentially mortgaged its entire future and build an entire organization around a future Hall of Fame quarterback and got back a 3-10 record for their trouble.
There have been offensive issues all season at multiple positions for New York, but Rodgers himself is not immune from criticism. Across several core metrics he is well below average and setting new career lows, while going from being a Top 10 quarterback to a barely Top 20 guy.
13th in passing yards
27th in completion percentage
29th in yards-per-attempt
8th in passing TDs
20th in passer rating
Rodgers average rank across these metrics is 19.4, and that’s atrocious for a guy supposed to get the Jets to the promised land. We went from seeing New York as a potential Super Bowl team to now wondering whether or not they need to tear everything down and rebuild.
A lot of that is on Aaron Rodgers.
Trevor Lawrence, QB — Jacksonville Jaguars
There’s no doubt Lawrence still has a really bright future and a lot of this is not on him at all, but this was a season that held so much promise. Many of us believed this would be the year Lawrence ascended to become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL — and now he’s out for the remainder of the season, finishing with terrible numbers.
It’s clear Doug Pederson isn’t helping Lawrence, who mostly struggled with consistency in 2024. His highs were pronounced, boasting three games with over a 100.0 passer rating and utterly taking over games. Conversely he also flopped in some games, ending three games with a passer rating under 75.0.
The Jaguars are a mess, and this should not be an indictment on Lawrence’s future. It’s more that we thought this would be a breakout year, and it was anything but.
Brandon Aiyuk, WR — San Francisco 49ers
This has been a disappointing year for Brandon Aiyuk, who entered 2024 coming off a tremendous 2023 campaign.
After catching 75 passes for a career-high 1,342 yards and 7 touchdowns, Aiyuk conducted an extended “hold-in” at 49ers training camp as he sought a long-term extension from the team. As that process drew on, the rumblings about a potential trade out of San Francisco grew louder, with many believing Aiyuk could find his way to Pittsburgh or Washington.
Ultimately, Aiyuk signed that contract extension with the 49ers at the very end of August, just days before the 2024 season began. He was in the 49ers’ starting lineup for their season opener, catching a pair of passes against the New York Jets. But over seven games, Aiyuk hauled in just 25 passes for 374 yards, and did not score a touchdown.
Aiyuk suffered a season-ending knee injury in San Francisco’s 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in October, drawing a disappointing campaign to a close.
Kirk Cousins, QB — Atlanta Falcons
Part of this could be the lingering effects of Kirk Cousins’ Achilles’ injury that cost him the bulk of his 2024 season. Cousins’ mobility in the pocket is visibly hampered and it is impacting what the Atlanta Falcons can do on offense. Atlanta is 6-7 right now, looking up at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the standings, and in his last four games Cousins has thrown eight interceptions.
He has also not thrown a touchdown pass during this stretch, and his last TD toss came before Election Day.
Or, it could just be the fact that Cousins remains a Costco hot dog.
Daniel Jones, QB — New York Giants/Minnesota Vikings
The New York Giants faced a decision following the 2022 NFL season. With both Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley on expiring contracts, would they find a way of inking both to long-term deals?
Ultimately, they could not. While Joe Schoen signed Jones to a four-year contract extension, worth up to $160 million, a similar agreement could not be reached with Barkley. New York offered the running back a three-year deal topping out around $13 million per year, with under $20 million of that contract offer guaranteed.
Barkley turned the offer down, played the year under the franchise tag, and ultimately found his way to the Philadelphia Eagles for 2024 where he is in the midst of a dream season for the team. Barkley has already set Philadelphia’s single-season rushing record, is on pace to eclipse Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing records, is in the conversation for multiple offseason awards, and has the Eagles thinking about a dream run in the playoffs.
Jones was benched and eventually released by the Giants, signing with the Minnesota Vikings as a means of perhaps resurrecting his career.
Jones’ season alone might not be considered a disappointment, as he was coming back from a knee injury and expectations were not that high to begin with. But when you factor in … everything else, this has been a very disappointing two seasons for Giants fans, starting with their former QB.
Haason Reddick, EDGE — New York Jets
When Haason Reddick was traded to the Jets, the expectation was that he would provide an instant boost to an already formidable pass rush unit.
What we got was one of the funniest sagas in the NFL this year, culminating in poor play. Reddick chose not to show up for the first major part of the season, citing a dispute over a contract extension that was supposed to be agreed upon when he was traded to New York. Reddick never showed up to training camp, and until his contract dispute was finished he was away from the team.
When Reddick finally showed up, he made a minimal impact. He has half a sack, two tackles for loss and has largely been invisible for big parts of games. For what was supposed to be another “prove-it” deal, Reddick hasn’t proved much.
Matthew Judon, EDGE — Atlanta Falcons
This is largely a way to discuss the Atlanta Falcons’ pass rush, which has been the worst unit in the league by far. They have the third least total pressures in the entire league, the third lowest pressure rate and the lowest sack rate in the entire league. In the offseason, they acquired EDGE Matthew Judon to help turn up the pass rush, but he’s done anything but. He only has 15 pressures and 3.5 sacks this season, paltry numbers compared to his time as a Patriot, and their lack of pass rush has made the Falcons’ pass defense look like one of the worst units in the league.
Judon was acquired in the hopes that he could be their number one pass rusher, but the results have been a little lacking.
