By Emily McLaughlin
As the 2023 NFL season has ended, the 2024 offseason has kicked off. Many questions arise with adding and removing coaches, roasters, and schemes.
Starting on Feb. 20 and ending on March 5, teams can start placing franchise tags on unrestricted free agents. During the league tampering period from March 11 to March 13, teams can tamper legally with free agents from other clubs.
BleacherReport said, “With the salary cap expected to exceed $240 million and notable players like Chris Jones, Kirk Cousins, Tee Higgins, and Danielle Hunter scheduled to hit the market, the spending will likely be extensive and come quickly.”
Due to the impact of COVID back in 2022, it is just now said that the salary cap is out of the COVID debt for good. The NFL announced the new salary cap for the 2024 season; it will be set to $255.4 million per team.
Many predictions are taking place about the 2024 season and beyond. One of the predictions includes CFP officials discussing expanding to 14 team playoffs in 2026.
The CFP meeting in Dallas on February 14th mentioned the idea of having a 14 College Football Playoff season. With a 14 College Football Playoff season in mind, several questions arose involving the distribution of money, governance, and access.
ESPN states that “the CFP executive director Bill Hancock acknowledged the idea was discussed but declined to provide specific details, saying, “‘There’s work still to be done.’”
The CFP management committee came together during the meeting on February 14th to discuss potentially expanding the field after their contract runs out in the 2025 season. Continued questions do arise with teams who will split up qualifiers and how finances will come into play.
Hancock mentioned further on ESPN during the February 14th meeting that there’s “‘more ground-level, detailed conversation than we’ve been able to have. All voices were heard, and we collectively agreed to move forward together as there is more work to be done.’”
The NFL teams are faced with big questions on what they will do with some of their missing big players. For the Bengals, their questions stir around what they will have to do to keep Tee Higgins. Other questions have come into play with how teams such as the Broncos, Falcons, Giants, Commanders, and Bears will deal with their quarterback problem.
With Higgins set to enter free agency, the Bengals are in a tight spot with having him stay on the team. With Joe Burrow and Higgins entering the league with the Bengals with the No. 1 and No. 33 pick of the 2022 draft, Burrow had some words of hope that Higgins would continue to be with the Bengals for continued seasons.
“I expect him to be back. I know everybody in the locker room wants him back,” said Burrow in WLWT 5.
For other teams, the number of injuries and the high cost of re-signing current starters could impact why so many teams lack quarterbacks. Additionally, with the hiring and firing of different head coaches, coordinators, and executives, it will be interesting to see the results.
With the right hire, the possibilities for the success of different teams are endless. Having fresh minds on the NFL teams could lead to different teams going into playoffs, just as six first-year head coaches have done for their teams since 2021.