State of quarterback position entering 2024 NFL season, plus Tee Higgins ends holdout, signs tag with Bengals

Happy Monday everyone! John Breech is taking some time off now that Tee Higgins is safe (more below), so you have me, Cody Benjamin, to deliver all your NFL news, right here in the Pick Six newsletter.

Be sure to sign up here to ensure you never miss a daily dose of NFL updates. And keep reading for everything from contract news to quarterback evaluations and more:

1. Status of the QB position: Trends, predictions for 2024

Quarterbacks are the starters in the NFL, but what can their recent track record tell us about their future? Douglas Clawson identified several important signal caller trends ahead of the 2024 season, including the growing propensity of defenders to throw shorter passes and lean more on their legs:

The youth movement (at quarterback) came with growing pains. The league averaged 10.9 yards per completion last year, the fourth consecutive year it was the worst season in NFL history. The passing average continues to get shorter and shorter, as it was 7.7 air yards per attempt in 2023, a full yard drop from 2011.

On the bright side, defenders are more fun in other ways. Signal callers accounted for 16% of teams’ rushes in 2023, the highest rate in NFL history. There have been more 500-yard rushing seasons by quarterbacks in the last 10 years (35) than there have been previous 90-plus yard rushing seasons combined (31).

2. Chiefs’ Isaiah Buggs arrested for second time

It’s been a remarkable off-season for the defending Super Bowl champions, to say the least. The latest drama: Buggs, a reserve defensive lineman, was arrested for the second time within months, charged Sunday with domestic violence and robbery by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama. Previously arrested for alleged animal cruelty in May, Buggs spent the 2023 season on KC’s practice squad. He has yet to appear in any games for the Chiefs and will be subject to NFL discipline for his off-field transgressions.

3. Tee Higgins ends holdout, signs tag with Bengals

The wide receiver who skipped mandatory minicamp while protesting the franchise tag has reversed course and signed his one-year, $21.8 million tender, as ESPN reported, effectively guaranteeing your return to Cincinnati in 2024. The move isn’t too surprising considering the Bengals reportedly rejected Tee Higgins’ private trade requests, but it still has major knock-on effects internally, guaranteeing Joe Burrow one of their top passing targets, at least in the short term. term. Higgins was seeking a lucrative long-term extension.

4. Dolphins and Tagovailoa closing in on long-term deal?

Speaking of resistance, Tua Tagovailoa was present at Miami’s mandatory activities despite admitted impatience in long-term contract negotiations. But the Pro Bowl quarterback could be next to cash in, with Trevor Lawrence recently redefining the increasingly lucrative signal-caller market. ESPN reports that Tagovailoa and the Dolphins are finally in the same stadium when it comes to extension talks, and it’s possible a new deal could be finalized between the two sides before training camp.

5. Top 10 Offseason Rankings: Bears Lead

Which of the 32 NFL teams did well in the offseason, honing their talent for the 2024 campaign? Josh Edwards reviewed all the biggest moves of the last few months and identified your top 10. Above? The Chicago Bears:

General manager Ryan Poles has done a fantastic job of addressing the present without sacrificing the future. Caleb Williams is the face of the franchise and the organization has done everything in its power to surround him with the talent necessary for him to achieve success early in his career. A No. 1 overall selection may never have gotten into a situation as good as the one Williams has in the Windy City. His collection of pass catchers includes wide receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, as well as tight end Cole Kmet. They also signed veteran D’Andre Swift as another playmaker on defense.

6. Lions sign UFL kicker after 64-yard field goal

The United Football League just wrapped up its 2024 season, and now one of its star players is ready to return to the field in the NFL: fresh off a run with the Michigan Panthers that saw him drill a 64-yard field goal, the kicker Jake Bates is went to the Detroit Lions on a two-year contract. Originally undrafted out of Arkansas in 2023, Bates also attracted interest from several other NFL teams following his UFL stardom.