NFL Draft 2024: The Losers for the upcoming NFL Season

The NFL Draft is usually a time for optimism for the future of your favourite franchise. However, some bad picks could have you scratching your head and wondering where it all went wrong.

Here Liz Fox aka @NFLGirlUK reviews some teams that wound up being losers in the draft...

The Atlanta Falcons are a no-brainer here. They just went through an off-season where fans were thinking that they could win the division. They signed quarterback Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed. The thought was that this was the year they were going to go all-in and try to make the postseason.

They had a top-10 draft pick and every need that they had to fill was still on the board. Instead, they drafted quarterback Michael Penix eighth overall. Not only was that a reach considering Penix’s injury history and age, but it was also one of the few positions they didn’t need to fill. Instead of helping their defense further, they drafted a player top-10 that might not play for two years. When Cousins's contract ends, Penix will be 28-years-old.

Atlanta are a 33/1 price to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl LIX.

Another team that can be considered a loser of this draft was the Denver Broncos. Although, they do have a solid argument here. They drafted quarterback Bo Nix at number 12 overall. This was a very big reach and Nix is already 24-years-old.

The reason I say that they argue against being losers is because they were likely worried about the run-on quarterbacks. Five quarterbacks had been taken in the first 10 draft picks, so when the Broncos were on the clock, they took the last top guy remaining.

After Nix, a quarterback wasn’t taken until round 5. I still think the Nix pick was unnecessary considering how many other issues Denver has with their roster, finances, and draft capital, though they might have been pushed into a corner this year.

It seems as though the market agrees with my assessment, as you can get 100/1 on the Broncos winning it all this season.

I went back and forth with this next one, but the Las Vegas Raiders might be losers for the time being. They came into the draft knowing that they needed a quarterback and to fill some other holes on their team.

It was unfortunate that they couldn’t get any of the first six quarterbacks before their selection, but then they drafted Brock Bowers. Bowers is tremendous value at the spot he was taken, don’t get me wrong.

I’m more intrigued because Las Vegas wasted capital last year to draft Michael Mayer and barely utilized him. Now, they’re going into another year with no quarterback of the future, two tight ends that will compete for snaps, and a plethora of other holes to fill. Bowers will have to be an integral part of the offense for their draft to be considered a win but the 80/1 price to win the Super Bowl says plenty short-term.

Finally, without question, the Dallas Cowboys are losers in this draft. Jerry Jones said that Dallas was “all in” this year and went on to do nothing in free agency. Furthermore, they barely did anything in the draft.

It was nice of them to build up their offensive line more, though they didn’t address one of their biggest needs at running back. Instead, they signed Ezekiel Elliott when the draft ended. Sadly, this won’t factor into the grade. Dallas had some solid offensive line picks. They just didn’t address some glaring needs and left fans wondering whether or not they are “all in” or not.

Dallas are the only loser of the draft to still be considered a Super Bowl contender, coming in at 18/1 to be victorious once all is said and done.

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