At least the San Francisco 49ers got a couple of controversies out of the way before the season kicked off.
After a long offseason of posturing, trade talks and holdouts, the 49ers signed receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams to extensions. It won’t make life easier on their salary cap, but that problem is for another day now.
Other teams still have potential issues lingering with the regular season kicking off this weekend. Here are 10 brewing controversies that we’ll be talking about during the season.
There are four positions that get paid at a different level than the others: quarterback, receiver, edge rusher and left tackle. The Dallas Cowboys are faced with the possibility of having one of the top three highest-paid players at each of those positions.
Receiver CeeDee Lamb already got paid. We’ll get to the quarterback in a moment. And the question is if they can pay edge rusher Micah Parsons too. Parsons has been an exceptional player since Dallas drafted him in the first round. The noise about his extension hasn’t been that loud, but it’s going to be an issue. If Parsons plays at a Defensive Player of the Year level, the price is going to keep going up.
You’ll get sick of this controversy. Maybe you already are. Prescott is oddly divisive among fans, but that seems to be unavoidable for Cowboys quarterbacks. Prescott made a strong push for NFL MVP last season, but many believe he’s not worth another big contract extension because the Cowboys haven’t made a Super Bowl. The Cowboys aren’t going to want to start over at quarterback, but Prescott has a lot of leverage. If he hits the open market, there will be a bidding war and his contract will set records. The Las Vegas Raiders in particular seem to be waiting with a blank check in hand.
If the Cowboys don’t sign Prescott to a contract extension soon, every game this season will be a referendum on how much Prescott should get paid and by who. This will be the loudest controversy of the 2024 season. Prepare yourselves.
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How much will Brock Purdy get paid?
Purdy can’t sign a contract extension until after the season. That won’t keep him from being a story all season. The 49ers have already given raises to Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams this offseason, and next up is figuring out an extension for a quarterback. Other QBs are getting more than $50 million per season and the price is going to keep rising. Purdy’s play this season will also determine how much his extension ends up being.
There has been a circular debate about whether Purdy is actually good or if he’s just a product of Kyle Shanahan’s system. That debate will shift this season to how much Purdy should be paid, based on every good or bad game he has this season.
Jets and their all-in season
It’s not often that a team loads up and has one season to make it work. For the Jets it’s like the “Last Dance,” but without the first five championships the Chicago Bulls won. Everything will be under a microscope this season.
If the Jets don’t win big this season, everything is likely to get turned upside down. That might start with Aaron Rodgers, who won’t play forever. The Jets always have drama, when they’re good or bad, and that has started with trading for pass rusher Haason Reddick and misreading that Reddick would report without a new contract. Reddick wasn’t with the Jets at the start of their preparation for Week 1, which is a loss to the lineup they didn’t need going into a pressure-filled season.
“Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” was a fun watch and there’s one scene that got a lot of attention. Giants co-owner John Mara let general manager Joe Schoen know that he wanted Saquon Barkley back, and definitely didn’t want him going to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I’ll tell you that,” Mara said. “As I’ve told you … I’ve been around enough players, but he’s the most popular player we have by far.”
Barkley signed with the Eagles. As many pointed out, when the team owner tells you he wants something, it better get done.
We’ll see if Barkley makes the Giants pay. The Eagles play the Giants in Weeks 7 and 18. If Barkley plays well in Philly while Giants fans tune out a losing team, Mara will probably remember that conversation too.
Falcons QBs co-existing
Kirk Cousins could make sure this never becomes a story. If he plays well, Atlanta Falcons rookie Michael Penix Jr. will stay on the bench all season. But it’s rare that a quarterback, especially a 36-year-old coming off a torn Achilles, pitches a perfect season.
Already, Penix not playing beyond the first preseason game brought out illogical conspiracy theories that the Falcons were really just wanting to get a look at Penix in the regular season and this was the sign. Sure. Really, the Penix talk will only crank up if Cousins struggles. And depending on when it happens in the season, the Falcons’ record and how well Cousins has played to that point, the calls for the eighth overall pick of the draft to get a shot could be loud. The Falcons created this potential controversy when they made the unconventional decision to draft Penix right after paying Cousins.
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo has had a hard time explaining why Jacoby Brissett is starting, probably because the reason is the Patriots aren’t good enough to support Maye and they don’t want to ruin his development. But Mayo was right when he said Maye outplayed Brissett in the preseason, and that only adds to the controversy. Fans will want Maye to play. Players will wonder why the best quarterback isn’t starting. The Patriots are probably going to lose a lot of games, and with each loss it will be harder for New England to resist playing the third overall pick of the draft. It’s a hard controversy for a rookie coach to manage.
An ESPN story this offseason put a different light on the Philadelphia Eagles’ struggles late last season. It described a disconnect between quarterback Jalen Hurts and head coach Nick Sirianni. The root of it, a team source told ESPN, was Hurts’ “lack of full respect for Sirianni’s X’s and O’s chops.”
It’s not good when a quarterback and coach are at odds. Both men have downplayed that, but it’s bound to come up again if the Eagles start slow. Maybe Sirianni giving up offensive control to new coordinator Kellen Moore will ease tensions. But don’t think that the story has been forgotten.
Maybe this one won’t get that hot. The Pittsburgh Steelers have two well-known quarterbacks in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, but everyone by now knows they’re both flawed. The Steelers were picking between two unappetizing options at the end of the preseason. Wilson won the starting job, but it has been a while since he has been an effective quarterback.
If Wilson struggles early, will the Steelers have much patience? Fields at least has shown he can make plays running the ball. It’s not a quarterback controversy like Steve Young backing up Joe Montana, but a marquee franchise possibly juggling quarterbacks all season will get plenty of attention.
David Tepper’s patience with Bryce Young
We know all about the Carolina Panthers owner by now. He reacts to losing by making big changes. And the Panthers have lost a lot under his watch. His impatience has become a big storyline for the franchise.
In any other situation, a quarterback drafted first overall would have a few seasons to develop. But Bryce Young, last year’s top pick, is under Tepper’s watch. Young struggled last season. The Panthers used all resources available to improve around him. What if Young doesn’t improve much in his second season? Would Tepper, who has had six different players lead his team in passing yards in his six seasons as franchise owner, give Young a third season? Would he push for a change during the season? When it comes to Tepper, anything is possible.
Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals (bonus)
We’ll throw an 11th brewing controversy on here. It seems inevitable that Chase signs a big extension with the Cincinnati Bengals soon. But with each day the extension isn’t signed, it’s a potentially explosive issue for the team. So while the most reasonable conclusion is the Bengals finally paying Chase, this has to be on the list until the standoff is resolved. It could end up being a big problem for the Bengals’ Super Bowl dreams.