The wild card logo during an NFL Playoffs game.NFL Playoffs Wild Card Logo (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
A clear favorite to miss the NFL playoffs has emerged ahead of the upcoming 2024 season.

We’re still a few months away from the start of the new campaign, but it will be here before you know it. Time flies even faster nowadays, in case you haven’t noticed.

As such, odds are already out on the favorite teams to miss the NFL playoffs. Popular sportsbook DraftKings has the New England Patriots as the most likely team to miss out on postseason play.

The bookmaker has odds of -1800 going on the AFC outfit to miss out on the playoffs again in 2024, the highest of any team in the league.

The Pats went 4-13 last season with the legendary Bill Belichick at the helm and, despite a coaching change, are expected to play out a lame campaign under Jerod Mayo.

While the team has a top-rated rookie quarterback in Drake Maye, who went third overall in the draft  this year, they’re still short on top receiving options.

The Patriots Divisional Rivals All Have A Much Better Shot Of Making It To The NFL Playoffs

The Patriots are also playing in one of the most difficult divisions – the AFC East – which boasts the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, who are tipped to experience some measure of success in 2024.

The New York Jets are also due a shout with Aaron Rodgers back healthy and could be the team to contend with.

Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos are second behind the Patriots in terms of potentially missing the playoffs at -1100, while the Carolina Panthers are next at -900.

Of course, only time will tell. But the three aforementioned appear to have the most difficult paths to the NFL playoffs at the moment.

RUMOR: Seattle Seahawks Could Stun The Entire NFL By Trading Superstar Wide Receiver

Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf of Seattle Seahawks celebrating a play.Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
An NFL writer has made a compelling case for the Seattle Seahawks to shake up their offense by dealing one half of their dynamic wide receiver tandem.

The Seattle Seahawks have boasted one of football’s top pass-catching tandems, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, since the latte burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2019. Since joining forces, the two have combined for seven 1,000-yard seasons.

Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport made the case for Seattle to break up the duo by trading Lockett, citing his lucrative cap hit as well as the presence of 2023 first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba;

“Lockett restructured his contract this year to remain a Seahawk, but with a cap hit north of $30 million in 2025 this is probably his final season in the Pacific Northwest.

Fans of the team may be fiercely loyal to Lockett, but the new coaching staff isn’t. And Lockett is just the kind of proven veteran that a team could make an offer for if there’s an injury in camp or a young wideout fails to shine in camp.

The Seahawks are a good team. But they aren’t a Super Bowl team—and moving Lockett for the right draft pick wouldn’t make them markedly worse.”

Davenport also noted that Lockett’s production declined with the Seattle Seahawks in 2023, as he tallied 79 receptions for 894 yards (his lowest mark since 2017) and five touchdowns. The year before, Lockett had 84 receptions for 1,033 yards and nine touchdowns.

As we saw with Russell Wilson two years ago, the Seahawks would rather deal a fan favorite and veteran superstar a year too early rather than a year too late. And with Lockett entering his age-32 season, there’s a case to be made that Seattle is better off trading him now.

For his career, Lockett has 612 receptions for 7,994 yards and 59 touchdowns.

Seattle Seahawks Open Season vs. Denver Broncos

For the second time in three years, the Seattle Seahawks will open their season at home against the Denver Broncos, the very team they crushed in Super Bowl 48 a decade ago.

The Seahawks also opened the 2022 season at home against the Broncos in what marked Russell Wilson’s first game in a non-Seattle uniform. The Hawks won that game 17-16 after kicker Brandon McManus missed a game-winning 64-yard field goal.

Wilson is long gone now, having been released from his contract before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Week 1 contest will be held at Lumen Field at 1:05 p.m. EST.