Playing in the NFL means you’re always under pressure to perform, but some players and coaches will have more on the line in 2024 than others.
Which individuals have the most at stake next season? Coaches and players alike are fighting for their jobs, while others are searching for a significant payday.
Let’s rank the top 10 players and coaches under the most pressure this season. We’ll start with a head coach who isn’t in danger of losing his job but is hoping to secure his legacy.
NFL Players, Coaches With the Most on the Line in 2024
10) 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan
Shanahan is widely considered one of the NFL’s best head coaches despite lacking a Super Bowl ring. While it speaks to Shanahan’s reputation that he’s lumped in with Andy Reid, Sean McVay, and others who have gone to the sport’s mountaintop, the 49ers head coach would undoubtedly love to add a Lombardi to his trophy case.
Shanahan has come incredibly close. In the past five years, his 49ers have lost two Super Bowls to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, blowing 10-point leads in both games.
San Francisco will bring back most of its key pieces in 2024, including wideout Brandon Aiyuk, who agreed to a four-year extension over the weekend following an offseason of trade rumors. The 49ers will have a few more shots at a Super Bowl title before QB Brock Purdy’s eventual extension makes title runs more difficult.
9) Eagles C Cam Jurgens
Losing Jason Kelce was enough for the Eagles to fall out of the No. 1 spot in the PFN’s Offensive Line Rankings. While Philadelphia’s front five is still elite (we have them at No. 2), Kelce’s retirement will undoubtedly affect the Eagles’ offensive operation in 2024.
Jurgens is a solid interior lineman with two years of experience in OL coach Jeff Stoutland’s system. He started 11 games at right guard in 2023 and boasts the same sort of mobility that made Kelce the greatest center of his generation.
But even if Jurgens is excellent as he shifts to center, he’s unlikely to be as effective as his future Hall of Famer predecessor. Kelce handled every pre-snap call for the Eagles, taking a crucial load off quarterback Jalen Hurts’ plate, while his presence was fundamental for Philly’s Tush Push success rate.
8) Texans WR Stefon Diggs
Diggs’ 2023 statistics were undoubtedly concerning. He posted his fewest yards (1,183) and yards per reception (11.1) since 2018, his second-to-last season with the Vikings. Diggs went from seventh to 31st in yards per route run from 2022 to 2023; he slipped from fourth to 67th in ESPN’s tracking metrics.
Diggs’ role with the Bills was all but erased by the end of the season. The Texans, perhaps knowing they needed to motivate the four-time Pro Bowler, altered Diggs’ contract upon acquiring him this offseason, ensuring he’ll become a free agent next spring.
With a chance at one more significant payday on the horizon, Diggs should be locked in.
7) Bengals WR Tee Higgins
Few NFL players have more on the line in 2024 than Higgins.
The Bengals franchised the 25-year-old receiver this offseason after injuries limited Higgins to just 11 starts and 656 receiving yards in 2023, his worst results as a pro. He’ll earn over $21 million this year, but Higgins is targeting a larger annual value and far more guarantees as a free agent.
Now that Aiyuk won’t be a free agent next spring, Higgins should be the No. 1 WR available on the 2025 open market. If fellow Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase unexpectedly continues his hold-in into the regular season, Higgins would get to be Joe Burrow’s top target in one of the NFL’s best offenses — not a bad setup for a contract year.
6) Titans QB Will Levis
Sure, part of the reason the Titans went on an offseason spending spree was to attempt a worst-to-first run in the AFC South.
Tennessee was one of the league’s most active teams during the spring and summer, signing WRs Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd along with RB Tony Pollard, while also inking left tackle JC Latham and center Lloyd Cushenberry to address what had been the NFL’s worst offensive line. They didn’t stop when it came to defense, adding LB Ernest Jones, CBs L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie, and safeties Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams.
All those new additions should raise the Titans’ floor. But they’ll also give new head coach Brian Callahan and offensive coordinator Nick Holz a look at Levis in upgraded circumstances.
Levis didn’t have much to work with when he stepped in for injured quarterback Ryan Tannehill in Week 8. Still, his own performance left a lot to be desired. Levis finished dead last in Pro Football Reference’s on-target rate (67.1%) and ranked third worst in passing success rate (37.1%), ahead of only Bryce Young and Zach Wilson.
Although the Titans don’t have a sexy backup to turn to, Callahan might be willing to change quarterbacks for the sake of change if Levis struggles in 2024, even if Mason Rudolph is no one’s idea of a long-term starting QB.
5) Bears HC Matt Eberflus
No one would have been surprised if the Bears had parted ways with Eberflus after the 2023 campaign.
Eberflus and Chicago did improve down the stretch, especially on defense. But with No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams in place as the club’s quarterback savior, the Bears could have fired Eberflus and hired an offensive-minded head coach — and no one would’ve batted an eye.
Instead, GM Ryan Poles opted to stick with Eberflus for a third season after Chicago’s augmented defense helped them win four of their last six games. While the Bears might not have to make the playoffs for Eberflus to keep his job, a winning record is probably the expectation.
4) Panthers QB Bryce Young
The Panthers hope new head coach Dave Canales can turn Young’s career around in 2024 — because it can’t get much worse than how the No. 1 overall selection performed in his rookie campaign.
Last season, Young’s 33.4 QBR was second worst in the league, ahead of only the Jets’ Wilson. He ranked dead last with 3.68 adjusted net yards (ANY/A) per attempt. Since 2000, only three first-round quarterbacks have posted worse Year 1 ANY/A marks. One was Matthew Stafford (2009), but the other two were Josh Rosen (2018) and David Carr (2002).
Young, admittedly, was dropped into a terrible offensive environment in Carolina, where head coach Frank Reich was fired at midseason. Adding Canales, WRs Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette, RB Jonathon Brooks, and guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis should help Young get back on track in 2024.
Still, while Young is Canales’ primary charge this season, he received a six-year deal to take over the Panthers. If Canales decides Young isn’t his guy, he’ll likely have free reign to pick his own quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft.
3) Eagles HC Nick Sirianni
The Eagles’ ownership group and front office didn’t even try to hide how thin of ice Sirianni is on entering the 2024 season. General manager Howie Roseman held a January press conference explaining why he was not firing Sirianni before forcing — or perhaps, lightly suggesting — that he hire new OC Kellen Moore and DC Vic Fangio.
Moore’s schematic changes should optimize a loaded Eagles offensive arsenal that includes QB Jalen Hurts, RB Saquon Barkley, and WRs A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Fangio also has pieces to work with, including 2023 rookie standout DT Jalen Carter, free-agent addition Bryce Huff, and first-round rookie CB Quinyon Mitchell.
Sirianni has reportedly absorbed more of an overarching CEO role in his third season as Philadelphia’s head coach. If the Eagles’ new faces immediately mesh together, Sirianni could guide the club to another Super Bowl appearance (or win).
But if things go wrong — like they did in 2023 — Sirianni will take the fall.
2) Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy
Jerry Jones won’t fire himself, so there’s really only one other option if the Cowboys fail to live up to expectations in 2024. Dallas won 12 games in each of the last three seasons under McCarthy but hasn’t advanced past the Wild Card Round.
Although the Cowboys finally worked out a contract extension with wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, Jones and the club’s front office seem to be comfortable letting quarterback Dak Prescott enter the season on an expiring contract. Prescott’s massive cap charge limited Dallas’ free-agent spending, forcing them to remain quiet while the division-rival Eagles augmented their roster.
The Cowboys are still expected to compete for a playoff spot in the NFC. Still, it’s hard to imagine them being as productive after losing offensive linemen Tyron Smith and Tyler Biadasz, Pollard, defensive linemen Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler, and cornerback Stephon Gilmore over the offseason.
McCarthy is entering the final year of his contract but won’t receive a new deal, signaling how critical the 2024 season will be for his job security. With big coaching fish like Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel on the market next offseason, McCarthy needs at least a playoff win — and maybe more — to stick in Dallas.
1) Aaron Rodgers, Robert Saleh, and Joe Douglas
We couldn’t decide which member of the Jets organization has the most at stake in 2024, so we’re including the three headliners.
Rodgers returns after tearing his Achilles last season but remains a mystery box. Is he the same player who won back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021, the signal-caller who finished 26th in QBR in 2022, or something in the middle? While Rodgers is as talented as nearly any quarterback to play the game, he’s 40 years old and coming off a severe injury.
“I like that kind of pressure,” Rodgers said in May. “(New York is) a tough market to play in. It’s not for everybody. I relish that opportunity. That’s the way the NFL is. I’m not saying anything monumental.
“This is how it is every single year. You just might not say it, but as you get older in the league, if you don’t perform, they’re going to get rid of you. Or bring in the next guy to take over.”
The Jets own the NFL’s longest active playoff drought, having failed to make the postseason since 2010. If Gang Green can’t end the pain in 2024, Saleh and Douglas will almost surely lose their jobs.