2024 NFL Conference Championships Awards, Dark Horse Review

In nine days, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles clash in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. It was a doozy getting here, but we made it. As bittersweet as it is, we're in line for another solid Super Bowl, and with it, probably at least a little bit of controversy.

Championship Power Rankings

Conference Championship Awards

Dark Horse Review

Before the season started, I previewed every team in the NFL and how they would fare for this year. In these previews, I selected one "Dark Horse" from each team that either wasn't a well known player or was someone that had struggled in the past, but had room for improvement.

I went back and reviewed how each Dark Horse performed, and here is what I found:

Practice Squad / Cut

Marcus Harris - IDL - Houston Texans / New England Patriots

To my surprise, Marcus was cut from the Texans Practice Squad in October, and found himself on the Patriots PS a day later. Picking him was a shot in the dark, but I thought he showed enough during camp to make the 53-man roster.

Underwhelming / Injured

Cam Hart - CB - Los Angeles Chargers

Cedric Gray - LB - Tennessee Titans

Austin Jackson - OT - Miami Dolphins

Antonio Johnson - DB - Jacksonville Jaguars

Dawand Jones - OT - Cleveland Browns

BJ Ojulari - Edge - Arizona Cardinals

Spencer Rattler - QB - New Orleans Saints

Trenton Simpson - LB - Baltimore Ravens

Dontayvion Wicks - WR - Green Bay Packers

Jelani Woods - TE - Indianapolis Colts

All of the players above either spent the year injured, were below average when they played, or some combination of both. Some of the biggest disappointments were Trenton Simpson, Dontayvion Wicks, and Antonio Johnson. Seeing BJ Ojulari go down during camp was heartbreaking, and it seems like Jelani Woods can't catch a break.

Special Teams

Ryan Flournoy - WR - Dallas Cowboys

Dylan Laube - RB - Las Vegas Raiders

Qwan'tez Stiggers - DB - New York Jets

These three spent the vast majority of their rookie seasons on Special Teams, which was to be expected to an extent. Flournoy led the pack with 156 non-ST snaps, with Stiggers and Laube behind him at 48 and 2, respectively. There are paths to playing time for all of them next year, but all will have to impress new coaching staffs to make that happen.

Photo: L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Average

John Michael Schmitz Jr - IOL - New York Giants

Isaac Yiadom - CB - San Francisco 49ers

JMS took a leap from last season, but the leap looked like it was made by an inebriated rabbit. He had his moments, but he still struggled in pass protection and hasn't looked as sharp as a run blocker as he did in college. Isaac was injured during camp, and he lost valuable reps to rookie Renardo Green. When he got in, he did just fine, as he recorded 1 INT and 3 PBUs, with a 95.8 passer rating allowed.

Just Fine

Keanu Benton - IDL - Pittsburgh Steelers

DeMario Douglas - WR - New England Patriots

Frankie Luvu - LB - Washington Commanders

Ja'Quan McMillian - Nickel - Denver Broncos

Cam Taylor-Britt - CB - Cincinnati Bengals

The guys above performed slightly above average despite having increased roles from a season ago. I feel Luvu was played out of position, as just over 25% of his snaps had him aligned on the edge. I believe he's more of a scheme fit when he splits time between edge and playing off the ball, but that's just me. I also wanted to highlight Cam Taylor-Britt, who was the George Pickens of DBs. He either made big plays or let big plays be made against him, with no in-between.

Strong Finish

Arnold Ebiketie - Edge - Atlanta Falcons

Bryce Young - QB - Carolina Panthers

These two took off at the end of the season, making names for themselves to stick around their respective franchises. Ebiketie nearly doubled his pressure total from Week 13 to 18, as he tallied 19 of his 39 pressures in that span. He also raised his pressure rate from 9.30% to 16.24% from his first eleven games into his last six.

Bryce Young had an even crazier jump in production, as the former 1st overall pick looked like a bust after being benched before Week 3. He was reinstated as the starter in Week 8, and was a man possessed from that moment on. From that point until the end of the season, he achieved an 83.7 passing grade, which was the 6th highest in the NFL in that stretch. He generated 26 big time throws and a 7.7% big time throw rate, both leading the league in this time frame, and he was much better against pressure - an area he struggled at previously - as he threw 6 TDs and only 1 INT against it. He was my favorite comeback story of 2024, and he earned himself the right to lead this franchise.

Solid

Yaya Diaby - Edge - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kyler Gordon - CB - Chicago Bears

Boye Mafe - Edge - Seattle Seahawks

Josh Metellus - DB - Minnesota Vikings

Khalil Shakir - WR - Buffalo Bills

Kobie Turner - IDL - Los Angeles Rams

Now we're getting into the players who were dawgs for their squads for most of the season. Yaya, Boye, and Kobie tore it up along the defensive front, with each posting a pressure rate of 14.57%, 13.66%, and 10.34% respectively. Their pressures against true pass sets are even more dominant, as they put up 20.00%, 18.13%, and 18.85% rates, respectively.

Shakir posted 2.15 yards per route ran, 1 of only 22 WRs to do so this season, and he caught 80% of his targets. Gordon was the 10th best coverage CB per PFF, with a 76.0 grade in that area. This was helped by allowing just 19.4 yards per game and recording 6 PBUs. Metellus was sneaky good once again, and outside of one 98-yard play, he allowed just 15.76 yards per game while spending most of his reps in the box and slot. He also posted an 84.3 run defense grade, which ranked 10th among all safeties.

Damn Good

Leo Chenal - LB - Kansas City Chiefs

Alim McNeil - IDL - Detroit Lions

Chenal is as good as it gets for a running down LB. When he is on the field, the Chiefs early down TFL rate goes up by nearly 50%, which is astounding when adding just one player to the field. His gap integrity is top notch, and he earned an 83.6 overall defensive grade, the 5th highest among all LBs.

McNeil is more balanced, as he does well against both the run and pass. His 79.6 overall defensive grade ranked 10th among all IDLs, and he posted top-15 marks in pressures, pass rush grade, and true pass set win rate. He was stronger in pass rush, and it made him one of the top IDLs on the season.

Great

Kellen Moore - OC - Philadelphia Eagles

Kellen Moore had plenty of doubters coming into this season. He had never really put together a strong season calling plays, but his QBs always did relatively well. He put all of his haters to shame as he led one of the best offensive attacks on the season. Yes, he had the firepower to make it happen, but we've seen offenses with great personnel fall short of expectations in the past.

Over the course of the season, they ranked 8th in yards per game (367.2), 2nd in rush yards per game (179.3), 7th in points per game (27.2), tied for 6th in giveaways (15), 6th in EPA/Play (0.10), and 1st in EPA/Rush (0.04). The Eagles were productive and efficient, especially on the ground, and that's thanks in large part of Kellen Moore's offense.

Summary

When removing the players that were injured for the entire season, 16 of my 29 picks had a positive outcome on the season, which isn't bad at all for some of the swings I took. There were some disappointments along the way, but that's to be expected with the variety of players that were selected.

Photo: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Eagles

Final Notes:

From now until the Super Bowl, I'll be arguing my case on who should win the MVP and previewing the Super Bowl matchup itself.