2024 NFL Schedule Winners and Losers: Players, franchises, and the NFL scriptwriters

The 2024 NFL schedule is out, and every franchise knows its opponents for the upcoming season. Some teams start with tough games and end with easier ones on paper, while others do the opposite.

In this article, we explore the winners and losers of the recently released NFL schedule:

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Winners and Losers of the 2024 NFL Schedule

Winners

#1 Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams plays best when the lights shine brightest. The former Heisman Trophy winner will be featured in three primetime games in his rookie season.

Williams joins a stacked Chicago offense with Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen on his roster. If only Bryce Young had such depth last season with the Carolina Panthers.

#2 The New York Jets

The New York Jets had a nightmarish 2023 NFL season. It seemed like the football gods deserted them from Week 1. The Jets lost their franchise quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, in the first quarter of the first game, and they ended the year without making the postseason.

However, the NFL script writers decided to give them a soft ride in 2024. They face just two franchises with a winning record from last season from Week 2 to Week 8. Moreover, they have a fully fit Rodgers heading into 2024, a luxury for any Super Bowl-contending franchise.

#3 The Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have five primetime games and eight standalone windows, and they're scheduled to play every day of the week except Tuesday. It means their fans will get to cheer the Super Bowl champs even more than last season.

The Chiefs are the first team since the 1927 New York Yankees to have a game every day of the week except Tuesday. Their fans are eating well this year.

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Losers

#1 The Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers had a disastrous 2023 NFL season, finishing with the worst record in the league.

However, because they traded their 2024 first-round pick to the Chicago Bears ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft, they lost the chance to select a generational prospect in Caleb Williams.

The 2024 NFL schedule didn't do the Panthers any favors, as they're the only franchise not to have a single primetime game in the upcoming season. Truly, when it rains, it pours.

#2 The AFC North

The AFC North franchises were phenomenal in 2023. The division became the first in the Super Bowl era to have all their franchises finish with winning records.

How did the NFL scriptwriters decide to repay them? Based on their opponents' 2023 winning percentages, this year, the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns have the league's three toughest NFL schedules.

Talk about suffering from success.