The 2024 NFL Draft either sent you down your street screaming, “This is our year!” or left you searching for draft prospects available in 2025.

The draft was wildly entertaining and we saw a few teams prove their front office intelligence while a few teams are…. likely on the horizon of firing their front office.

Let’s break down the biggest winners of the 2024 NFL Draft:

Howie Roseman left me consistently feeling like Jesse from Breaking Bad - he can’t keep getting away with this!

The Eagles are that friend that constantly find the rare weapon in a game or discover $20 on the curb. No matter how many people try to emulate their level of success (or luck), it never seems to pan out.

Landing CB Quinyon Mitchell at pick 22 & CB Cooper DeJean at pick 40 was a level of “nasty work” that’s hard to describe. If you had this happen in Madden you’d feel like you cheated the CPU. That duo, along with Ringo, will likely replace the duo of Slay & Bradberry in the very near future.

The Eagles love speed & landing safety-turned-EDGE Jalyx Hunt feels like it fits their mold perfectly after losing Haason Reddick this off-season. Throw in Will Shipley & Johnny Wilson as new weapons on offense & Jeremiah Trotter Jr on defense 20 years after his father played there, the Eagles just feel like they fleeced the entire NFL across all 3 days.

Fans of the Commanders are finally past the days of Dan Snyder ruining their franchise. With Snyder completely removed, the Commanders pulled off a draft that gave their franchise a major jolt towards being a relevant NFL franchise again.

While everyone knew who would be the top pick for a few months now, the conversation around the Commanders at pick 2 was a bit of a rollercoaster. Ultimately, the selection of QB Jayden Daniels gives the Commanders a true signal caller at QB.

The real beauty of their draft though started after their QB selection. Picking up DT Jer’Zhan Newton in the 2nd round, when he was mocked in the 1st in most scenarios, gives a massive boost to that defensive line. CB Mike Sainristil might just be the best playmaker out of this entire draft & TE Ben Sinnott is a blocking machine with more than capable hands.

They continued to pile in quality depth with WR Luke McCaffrey, G Brandon Coleman & LB Jordan Magee. One of the biggest wildcards for them, however, was the selection of EDGE Javontae Jean-Baptiste. He has all of the talent in the world but has struggled with production at times. However, JJB under Dan Quinn will give him every chance in the world that he needs to truly shine.

The Panthers were in desperate need to surround Bryce Young with talent & luckily for their fans they did just that. After all of their criticism over the Bryce Young deal, the talent Carolina pulled this year should ease some concerns of their new front office.

Xavier Legette is going to be a Panthers legend. He’ll catch plenty of 50/50 balls this year for Carolina, but it might just be his press conferences that are his best highlight every Sunday.

While getting Legette at the top of the 2nd round is great news for Bryce Young, drafting RB Jonathon Brooks might be even better news (unless you’re Jerry Jones). Brooks is a dynamic playmaker who has shifty moves out of the backfield, can catch & can help out in pass protection as well. A combination of Chuba Hubbard and Jonathon Brooks gives Carolina a lot of options on offense this year.

TE Ja’Tavion Sanders will likely be Young’s best friend this year as he’s a reliable target who can be a major mismatch in the redzone. Carolina did a solid job of finding depth across the rest of their draft, but the pick of LB Trevin Wallace will be the biggest dictator in this draft going from good to great. He’s got the physical tools and speed, but he’s often baited in play-action a bit too much for my liking.

As a Steelers fan, I’m over the moon with how good their draft was this year. Watching our offensive line let down our mediocre QB play was beyond frustrating & the fact that we ended up above .500 is a testament to Mike Tomlin.

Landing OT Troy Fautanu at pick 20 was something that the Steelers couldn’t have imagined. The early run on QBs and wide receivers gave Pittsburgh the perfect pairing with Broderick Jones to ensure our QB is protected in 2024 & going forward.

The Steelers have a long history of drafting wide receivers in rounds 2, 3 & later that absolutely crush it. WR Roman Wilson looks to fit that mold and should have more than a fair shot to contribute in this year’s offense.

Picking up C Zach Frazier and G Mason McCormick really gives Pittsburgh a fantastic amount of depth and allows them to rework their entire offensive line. LB Payton Wilson had no business falling to Pittsburgh as late as he did, but the rumored lack of ACL in his knee pushed the award-winning linebacker to the 3rd round. Assuming he’s good to go, the Steelers got 1st round talent in the late 3rd round.

Throw in DT Logan Lee & CB Ryan Watts who will have an opportunity to earn playing time in camp, and it’s easy to see how the Steelers nailed the perfect amount of starters and depth in their draft this year.

The Colts drafted a franchise QB in Anthony Richardson last year, and after a hot start to the season he went down with an injury. While I would have loved to see the Colts focus a bit more on defense, I really love what they did with their draft this year.

Picking up EDGE Laiatu Latu to add to an already fun defense will lead to the Colts improving their total defensive ranking of 24th from last season. However, adding WR Adonai Mitchell and WR Anthony Gould to an already fun wide receiver group means that Richardson gets the weapons he needs to succeed.

In rounds 3 & 4 the Colts did get a few solid offensive linemen in OT Matt Goncalves & C Tanor Bortolini, but their lack of offensive line upgrades in the off-season does scare me a bit. Still, they’re improving their depth in a section of the offense that’s sorely needed.

The Colts also had a few interesting guys on defense this year but one of my favorite prospects they snagged is S Jaylin Simpson. He’s got great speed for a safety at 4.45 for his 40-yard dash, nearly a 40 inch vertical & he lead Auburn with 4 INTs this year while finishing second-team All-SEC. Likely not a day one starter, but a guy I expect to compete for playing time early on in his career.

Honorable mentions go to the Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills & the Arizona Cardinals for having great drafts in 2024 as well.

Coming soon, we’ll take about quite a few teams that need to already be saying “Maybe Next Year” about their chances at winning after their performance in the 2024 NFL Draft.