10 MUST-SEE MATCHUPS OF 2024
Packers vs. Eagles, Week 1:
The NFL extended opening weekend by adding a Friday game — the first ever held in Brazil. What a game it should be as Jordan Love — one of last season’s breakout stars — looks to put behind him a bad interception in a playoff loss. The Eagles, who melted down at the end of last season, start the Saquon Barkley Era and try to justify unconventional big spending on a running back.
Cowboys at Browns, Week 1: Call it the “QB Pressure Bowl.” The Browns’ Deshaun Watson ($63.7 million) and Cowboys’ Dak Prescott ($55.4 million) carry the NFL’s two largest salary-cap charges in 2024. Watson is coming off shoulder surgery and three straight wasted seasons. Prescott could be playing for a free-agent contract, to define his legacy and to save head coach Mike McCarthy’s job. Tom Brady, Fox’s $375 million analyst, makes his booth debut.
Bengals at Chiefs, Week 2: It’s hard not to wonder if the 2023 playoffs would’ve looked different if not for Joe Burrow’s season-ending wrist surgery. He is 3-1 (including the playoffs) against Patrick Mahomes. It feels like go-time for the Bengals — like it did for the Bills last season — now that Joe Mixon already is gone and this could be Burrow’s final season throwing to Tee Higgins. Orlando Brown Jr. was poached from the Chiefs in 2023 to protect Burrow.
Steelers at Broncos, Week 2: Russell Wilson is quarterbacking the Steelers but making $37.8 million from the Broncos this season. All the assets that the Broncos traded for 2022 and the $124 million paid to him for an 11-19 record as a starter are bad enough. The indignity of paying Wilson to beat rookie replacement Bo Nix — after trying to force Wilson to alter his contract at the threat of a benching and then cutting him — is so much worse.
Bills at Texans, Week 5: Have the Texans surpassed the Bills in the AFC hierarchy? C.J. Stroud, the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year, can go throw-forthrow with Josh Allen. And while the Bills are cutting costs, the Texans spent an NFL-high $144.5 million in guaranteed money during the first three weeks of free agency. That included trading for Pro Bowl receiver Stefon Diggs, who was disgruntled with the Bills. Will he shift the balance of power?