The 2024 NFL schedule is expected to be released in the next week or so. With that comes a lot of mystery and potential storylines to watch out for. The NFL is the most unique professional sport because, with only 17 games, sometimes teams go years without ever going against each other, especially across conferences.
NFL teams already know which teams they will play and where they will play. However, the exact order of games is unknown, and road teams don’t know if they will be traveling internationally.
Here are three storylines to watch out for.
1. International Games
The NFL has already named all five home teams for international games in 2024. International games will take place in Germany, Brazil, and three games in England. However, we do not know yet who are the visiting teams will be. Here’s all of the information we have:
- Munich, Germany: Carolina Panthers, unknown venue
- London, England: Jacksonville Jaguars, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- London, England – Chicago Bears, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- London, England – Minnesota Vikings, Wembley Stadium
- Sao Paulo, Brazil – Philadelphia Eagles, Corinthians Arena
There are rumors that the Jacksonville Jaguars may play in London twice, once as the home team and the second as the visiting team to the Chicago Bears. It is also theoretically possible that the Minnesota Vikings will play two games, the first being as a host in England and the second playing Jacksonville as the road team.
2. Rookie Set Ups
In case you somehow missed it, six quarterbacks were taken in the first 12 overall picks in the 2024 NFL draft. Five of these quarterbacks are very likely to start from week one. Seeing how these teams match up in early-season games will be interesting.
A team like the Chicago Bears will want Caleb Williams to have as many “easy games” as possible to start off the season. Well, that’s unlikely; there is a possibility that the Bears could see the Patriots, Seahawks, Commanders, and Cardinals all in early-season games. If that were to happen and Caleb Williams played well, it could set up a team like the Bears to have a confident and good season.
On the flip side, if the Bears were to play against Detroit, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Green Bay, how early in the season could it hurt Williams’s confidence and affect the team for the rest of the season?
In all likelihood, it will be somewhere in the middle. However, every year, there seems to be a team or two that has a really easy start or a very difficult start and then the opposite to finish the season.
Non-Sunday Games
Over the past couple of seasons, the NFL has moved more and more towards having non-Sunday games. Well, Monday night football has been around forever; more recently, Thursday night football, as well as more dates on Fridays and Saturdays, have become more common. This year, the NFL plans to add Christmas games on a Wednesday. Last year, they were a few games on Christmas, however those were Monday night which is common for the NFL to utilize on Monday to play games.
Historically, college football in the NFL mostly try to stay out of each other’s way when competing simultaneously. However, with college football ratings higher and the NFL ratings also higher, it doesn’t seem like that is as much of a priority anymore. It will be interesting to see you when the NFL decides to schedule games, as well as which games they decide to put on Monday night or Thursday night and non-Sunday weekend games in general.