2024 NFL Season Predictions!

The NFL(‘s Darkest Timeline) is Back!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 207 grueling days of NFL offseason, we are officially back!

The NFL season kicks off tonight with the Baltimore Ravens taking on the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Before we kick off the much anticipated 2024-2025 NFL Season, I’ll be bestowing upon to you my incredibly accurate and most clairvoyant of NFL predictions.

This article in particular will cover the NFL season awards, record predictions, and perhaps a few of our own accolades we created at the end of last season (which can very conveniently be found here).

But before we get into all that lame ah nonsense, I’ll share with you all a little life update and a sneak peak of what to expect with season 2 of the NFL’s Darkest Timeline.

Very Brief Life Update

If you care to skip this part, feel free; just know we’re no longer friends. 😁

Since our last edition, I’ve graduated college! Please leave all your congratulatory remarks in the comments. To my friends from school, I miss you all dearly, except for you, Jake.

I got really bored sitting at home post-grad and decided to start making football videos and posting them on instagram. It turns out 90,000 people like seeing the videos I’ve made and have made the ill-fated decision of trusting me with what can show up on their Instagram feed. I’ll be shamelessly promoting this newsletter on there.

If you’re curious to watch that content, you can find it on Instagram @1minuteofsports.

For the keen observers and web viewers, you’ll notice we have a new logo. That is courtesy of my very lovely girlfriend, who is much more skilled at the branding side of things than I am.

What to expect this season

This season’s editions of NFL’s Darkest Timeline will look slightly different than articles past.

It will of course have the same charm, wit, and sarcasm as always; I can’t turn it off and I will not apologize for it.

However, as far as content goes, every week (except for this one) will include game predictions and my favorite bets for the upcoming week.

We’ll still base most of our takes and predictions on analytics, but I’ll be making less of the actual graphics that’ll be featured.

We’ll of course recap our bets, the best moments of the week, and cover whatever interesting stories break throughout the NFL season.

The main articles will still be dropping every Thursday at 11am CT, and the occasional extra article will come out when something extra cool happens.

That’s all from me on the update side of things, so without further ado, here are your 2024-2025 NFL season predictions.

2024-2025 NFL Award Predictions

NFL MVP — Texans Quarterback CJ Stroud

The 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the year could’ve made his case last year as the league’s most valuable player.

A rookie QB stepping in and leading the league’s second-worst team to a playoff victory is no easy feat. Doing it while passing for the most yards ever in a rookie season is league-changing.

The only case against Stroud is that they’ve improved the weapons around him. The script writers could very easily make a dumb narrative about how he’s being carried by the cast around him, but I won’t stand for that.

I’ll happily put this in writing and say that CJ Stroud, at some point in his career, will break Peyton Manning’s single-season passing yards record.

Who’s to say it can’t be this year?

My other honorable mentions for NFL MVP are Packers QB Jordan Love, who had an absurd second half to last season, and Bills QB Josh Allen, who’s now playing with the worst supporting cast of his career. If he leads that team to a one or two seed in the AFC, he stands a pretty good chance.

NFL Offensive Player of the Year — Dolphins Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill

The 5x All Pro and 4x Baby Daddy Tyreek Hill remains one of the fastest players the league has ever seen despite pushing 30 years old.

Hill was poised to take home the award last year had he not missed snaps due to injury. Last year’s offensive player of the year, Christian McCaffrey, will keep it competitive, but I suspect voter fatigue will keep him out of the running.

For most of the 2023 season, Tyreek was on pace to eclipse 2000 yards receiving, a mark never achieved before by an NFL receiver.

Barring any injury concerns, I expect Tyreek Hill to push the limits once again in his case for the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year Award.

My honorable mentions for this award are Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb, Jets running back Breece Hall, and again Packers QB Jordan Love if he falls short of the NFL MVP award.

NFL Defensive Player of the Year — Steelers Defensive End TJ Watt

Many people expected TJ Watt to take home the Defensive Player of the Year award last year over Cleveland Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett.

With a league-leading 19 sacks in 2023, Watt has been one of the most productive defensive players the league has ever seen.

With a not-so-convincing quarterback competition on the other side of the ball, I think Watt will spend more time on defense than he’d like to. However, this should lead to him once again being the most productive pass rusher in football.

In my opinion, this award, along with MVP, is the most up for grabs this year.

Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons is due his time in the spotlight and the cornerback combo of Trevon Diggs and Daron Bland behind him should help his case.

Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa, and Maxx Crosby will all have strong defensive campaigns this year, as they usually do.

Though I must add, that extra “x” in Maxx is so unnecessary, so I’m not picking him to win.

Offensive Rookie of the Year — Chicago Bears Quarterback Caleb Williams

The first overall pick in this year’s draft has flashed on the field so far this preseason. Rarely does a quarterback look as composed as Caleb Williams has so far in his first snaps in the NFL.

Surrounded by offensive weapons at every position, the USC product should have little trouble putting up impressive numbers during his rookie campaign.

The added narrative of Puka Nacua’s rookie season last year will make it more challenging for players like Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers to make their campaign for the award, considering Puka broke a 63-year-old rookie receiving yard record and still fell short of winning OROY in 2023.

Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix are the only other first-round rookie QBs beginning the season as their teams starters, and a weak running back class means there are few guys in a position better than Caleb to take home the award.

Defensive Rookie of the Year — Ravens Cornerback Nate Wiggins

This year’s defensive rookie class is relatively weak on paper.

With the first defensive player in the 2023-2024 NFL Draft not being selected until 15th overall (Laiatu Latu, Indianapolis Colts), I think we’re in for a surprise as to who takes home this year’s award.

None of the pass-rushing candidates put up eye-popping college campaigns and I think it could take a while for them to hit the ground running. I suspect we’ll see a linebacker or secondary player win DROY this year.

Look out for accolade-riddled Pittsburgh Steelers rookie linebacker Payton Wilson to have an impressive start to his career alongside an already star-studded defense.

The NC State linebacker won the 2023 Butkus Award, presented to the nation’s top linebacker, and the Bednarik Award, presented to the nation’s top defensive player.

However, in a league that values turnovers over tackles, I think a player like Nate Wiggins stands a better chance to end his rookie season with some hardware.

Bust of the Year — Jets Offensive Tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu

Olumuyiwa Fashanu isn’t just this year’s biggest bust because his name’s a mouthful; it’s because he has arguably the toughest job of any rookie this year.

Protecting Aaron Rodgers’ blind side fresh off an Achilles tear will not be easy, and the stakes could not be higher.

Reports of out New York haven’t been great, and Fashanu is surely feeling the pressure as a rookie in one of the offense’s most important positions. His success will be relatively dependent on the health and production of 40-year-old Rodgers.

While I’m rooting for the Jets and Rodgers to compete in an exciting AFC, they’ll have to overcome the odds to do so.

Also just realized I forgot to add these award predictions but I’m in a rush so I’ll add them very briefly.

Coach of the year: Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans

Comeback Player of the Year: Aaron Rodgers

No Context NFL Record Predictions

Without any context, here are my record predictions for this year. Have any issues with them? Start a newsletter yourself then.

Super Bowl LIX Prediction:

Houston Texans 30 - 28 Detroit Lions

We’ll come back and revisit these award and record predictions at the end of the year. For now, let’s enjoy what is hopefully an incredible 2024-2025 NFL season.

How good it is to be back.

Thanks for navigating the NFL’s Darkest Timeline with me. If you enjoyed this read, share it with a human being who you think would appreciate it too.

Until next time,

Michael

Got any feedback or topics you’d like to see me cover? Let me know here.