2024 Projected NFL Standings, Playoff Results, and Super Bowl

Here’s my 2024 projected NFL standings, playoff results, and Super Bowl matchup, as well as the winner in my opinion.

NFL Standings

 

AFC East:
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
New England Patriots

AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South:
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans

AFC West:
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Las Vegas Raiders
Denver Broncos

NFC East:
Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
Washington Commanders
New York Giants

NFC North:
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Chicago Bears

NFC South:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers

NFC West:
San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Arizona Cardinals

NFL Playoffs

AFC Playoff Picture:
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Buffalo Bills
4. Houston Texans
5. Miami Dolphins
6. Cincinnati Bengals
7. Cleveland Browns

NFC Playoff Picture:
1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. Detroit Lions
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. Dallas Cowboys
6. Green Bay Packers
7. Los Angeles Rams

AFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. Baltimore Ravens defeat 7. Cleveland Browns
6. Cincinnati Bengals defeat 3. Buffalo Bills
5. Miami Dolphins defeat 4. Houston Texans

AFC Divisional Playoffs:
2. Baltimore Ravens defeat 5. Miami Dolphins
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 6. Cincinnati Bengals

AFC Championship Playoff:
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 2. Baltimore Ravens

NFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. Philadelphia Eagles defeat 7. Los Angeles Rams
3. Detroit Lions defeat 6. Green Bay Packers
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat 5. Dallas Cowboys

NFC Divisional Playoffs:
1. San Francisco 49ers defeat 4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
3. Detroit Lions defeat 2. Philadelphia Eagles

NFC Championship Playoff:
1. San Francisco 49ers defeat 3. Detroit Lions

Super Bowl

1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 1. San Francisco 49ers

I realize my predictions for the last 5 years have gotten redundant picking my hometown Kansas City Chiefs for the Super Bowl, and the 49ers, or Philadelphia Eagles as their opponents. But the fact of the matter is, anyone who follows the game religiously will tell you the Chiefs, the Niners, and the Eagles are 3 of the best, and youngest teams in the entire league over the last 5 years.

And the Chiefs biggest competition in winning the conference to get to the Super Bowl year in and year out for the last 5 or 6 years has been the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, and more recently the Miami Dolphins in that order. We seem to play those 4 teams in epic games that decide seeding, home-field advantage, and conference championships. All 4 teams are talented, and young, so that’s why they’re consistently good over a period of time. When teams that have been together a long time get older their championship window closes, and these 4 teams have a long and wide-open window of potential success, along with the Chiefs.

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart

 

 

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart:

 

With that being said, there are 11 players on the field for each team at a time. So, here’s how I think the roster will break down. The 1^st name is the starter, and the other names at each position, are his chronological backups. By the end, I wonder how close I get to who makes the roster.

 

There are 53 men on the football roster. At the beginning of training camp (July), and Pre-Season (August), the team starts out with 90. And by the beginning of the 1^st week of the Regular Season (which is usually the 1^st week of September), they cut the Pre-Season roster to 53.

 

Offense (25):

QB: Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wentz (2)

RB: Isiah Pacheco, Carson Steele, Clyde Edwards-Helaire (3)

LWR: Marquise Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster,  Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, MeCole Hardman (5)

RWR: Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy (2)

TE: Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Jared Wiley, Peyton Hendershot (4) 

LT: Kingsley Suamataia, Wanya Morris (2)

LG: Joe Thuney, Mike Caliendo (2)

OC: Creed Humphrey, Hunter Nourzad (2)

RG: Trey Smith (1)

RT: Jawaan Taylor, Lucas Niang (2)

 

Defense (25):

LDE: George Karlaftis, Maalik Herring (2)

LDT: Chris Jones, Neil Farrell (2)

RDT: Derrick Nnadi, Tershawn Wharton, Mike Pennel (3)

RDE: Mike Danna, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Cameron Thomas (3)

LOLB (SLB): Leo Chenal, Cam Jones (2)

MLB: Nick Bolton, Jack Cochrane, Drue Tranquill (2)

ROLB: (WLB): Drue Tranquill (1)

LCB: Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Nic Jones (3)

RCB: Joshua Williams, Nazeeh Johnson, Chamarri Conner (3)

SS: Justin Reid, Jaden Hicks (2)

FS: Bryan Cook, Deon Bush (2)

 

Special Teams (3):

K: Harrison Butker (1)

P: Matt Araiza (1)

LS: James Winchester, Noah Gray (2)

H: Matt Araiza (1) 

KR: MeCole Hardman, Carson Steele (2)

PR: MeCole Hardman (1) 

 

The new Punter Matt Araiza is the Holder. MeCole Hardman and Carson Steele are the Kick Returners, and MeCole Hardman is the Punt Returner to save roster spots.

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft

 

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft in my opinion:

K: Harrison Butker
P: Matt Araiza
LS: James Winchester
H: Matt Araiza
KR: Kadarius Toney  
PR: Kadarius Toney

2024 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters Post Draft

Our defensive scheme is a 4 - 3 (4 Down Linemen, and 3 Linebackers) base 7 man front with a 1 gap Under Front alignment (Defensive Line shifts to the weakside, and the Strong Side Outside Linebacker moves up on the line of scrimmage. That makes the defense look like a 5-2 with 43 personnel. Sometimes, the Strong or Free Safety will drop down close to the line of scrimmage, and the defense becomes an eight-man front, or what’s known as the 46 (Brian Dawkins in Philadelphia, and Justin Reid in KC). Now everybody in the NFL does a little bit of everything because it’s the pros and a copycat league. But our defensive coordinator comes from the Jim Johnson tree (‘99 – ‘08 with the Philadelphia Eagles) and prefers a 2 High Safety alignment with Press Man Coverage, mixed in with Man Blitzes, Double-A Gap Blitzes, and Zone Blitzes depending on the situation also.

2024 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters in my opinion after the draft:

LDE: George Karlaftis
LDT: Derrick Nnadi
RDT: Chris Jones
RDE: Felix Anudike-Uzomah
LOLB (SLB): Leo Chenal
MLB: Nick Bolton
ROLB (WLB): Drue Tranquill
LCB (CB1): Trent McDuffie
RCB (CB2): Joshua Williams
CB3: Jaylen Watson
SS: Justin Reid
FS: Bryan Cook

In the Nickel (5 DBs) against a spread offense, take out Drue Tranquill, and replace with a Slot Corner. Jaylen Watson.

In Dime (6 DBs), take out Leo Chenal, and Drue Tranquill. Add another Safety, Deon Bush, along with Jaylen Watson.

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft

2024 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft in my opinion:

NFL West Coast passing scheme, and zone running scheme, mixed in with college option, misdirection plays, and spread offense. Every team has 11 players on the field at one time. How many at each position varies due to the situation.

QB: Patrick Mahomes

RB1: Isiah Pacheco (goal line and short-yardage Running Back)

RB2: Clyde Edwars-Helaire (our pass receiving Running Back)

WR1: Marquise Brown

WR2: Xavier Worthy

WR3: Rashee Rice

WR4: Justin Watson

WR5: Skyy Moore

WR6: Kadarius Toney

TE1: Travis Kelce (pass-catching Tight End)

TE2: Noah Gray (blocking Tight End)

LT: Wanya Morris

LG: Joe Thuney

OC: Creed Humphrey

RG: Trey Smith

RT: Jawaan Taylor

As you can see above, we’ve made a couple changes on the offense, especially our Wide Receivers and Offensive Tackles.

Seems like we haven’t had stability at OT since Eric Fisher, and Mitchell Schwartz.

…And, we have to continue bringing in new receivers through the draft or free agency because after Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill, our receivers leave much to be desired, and/or keep getting in legal trouble.

X-Men '97

So normally I don’t post about cartoons, or things I used to watch back when I was a kid in the nineties. Anytime I do watch a reboot show of the shows I used to watch as a kid for the nostalgia, I’m always left disappointed like most people born in the eighties, who grew up during the eighties, nineties, and 1st decade of the 2000’s. You have a certain expectation that the show will be like the original but it never is.

I found one exception. I stopped watching cartoons when they were all taken off the air in the late nineties, when Fox had Batman, Gargoyles, X-Men, and Spider-Man. The latter 2 are the 2 I followed.

With that being said, I found my one exception to every rule. X-Men 97. The original ended and felt unfinished (‘ 92 – ’97). I used to watch the original with a friend of mine I’ve known since kindergarten. He’ll back me up on this. I’ve also tried to discuss this with other people in private messages. What I like about X-Men 97 is it picks up right where the original show left off. Hence the title. And, it has all the original theme music, and most of the original voice actors, and the newer voice actors learned the original voices to make it authentic.

I’m always worried when they want a reboot of something that was popular because I’m always leery of the creative team ruining certain legacies, and what made the show good in the 1st place. But for now, I’m pleasantly surprised.

I couldn’t believe the plot twist at the end of episode 6. I won’t ruin it for others who haven’t seen it, but those mo foes got dark, and twisted. My 8 to 13-year-old is doing a happy dance because I remember it being as cool as it used to be, but now I am going to need therapy.

I was always on the Wolverine train. I like a guy whose skeleton was made out of a metal not of the Earth and impenetrable by any Earthly weapon, has heightened senses like wild animals, could heal himself from pretty much anything, which also made him age at a slower rate because most diseases didn’t affect him. Not to mention, claws that come out of your knuckles.

Guess I’ll have to wait for season two next year. I’m on board.