The holiday season is just around the corner. With Christmas right around the corner next week and the New Year soon following, NFL teams are surely wanting just the right thing to make their season – or their team – as successful as possible.
With that in mind, that's exactly what we give them. In theory, of course. Here's what every team should want for the next week or so.
NFC East
You've seen the Cowboys' home road splits, right? And you saw their last games against the Niners? To get a home playoff game, the Eagles must lose one of their two remaining games against New York. And in order to avoid beating San Francisco in the playoffs, they need someone else to do it.
Jones received a $160 million contract last offseason, and the Giants restructured him before he even started. He immediately developed back into the player he was before his surprise move in 2022. New York needs to find a way out of this deal that isn't too painful.
Philly has scored a total of 49 points in its last three games: losses to the 49ers, Cowboys and Seahawks. Jalen Hurts is beside himself. The Eagles need to find a way out of this situation in the final weeks of the season before heading into the playoffs.
It would be nice for Washington if Josh Harris was better than Daniel Snyder. That shouldn't be asking too much.
NFC North
Justin Fields is playing better. The Bears are also likely to have the No. 1 pick in the draft. Keep fields and swap the selection, or swap fields and keep the selection? For the sake of the Bears and their fans, we hope whoever ends up making this decision makes the right decision.
Heading into this season, it looked as if the Lions' offseason spending on their secondary was leading to real improvement on defense – especially when combined with their good play on offense. But the further the season progresses, the less real it looks. We want a Lions defense that is a worthy complement to a highly entertaining offense.
We thought about including something about Jordan Love here, but since the Packers have allowed back-to-back NFC Offensive Player of the Week performances to Tommy DeVito and Baker Mayfield, it's clear it's time for attention on the defensive side Side something changes ball.
Cousins probably won't stay in Minnesota much longer given his contract situation and his torn Achilles tendon. But Justin Jefferson is too good not to be tied to a really good quarterback. The Vikings have a number of different options available to them through the draft, free agency, and potential trades, and it would be nice to see them acquire someone who can work with Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and TJ Hockenson for a long time.
NFC South
Sorry, Arthur Smith. But if the Falcons want to draft a running back and a tight end in the top 10 and you don't really use them, the team needs someone to do that.
The David Tepper era has been a disaster so far in Carolina. Things didn't work out with Matt Rhule. Frank Reich had it even worse. The Panthers need their wealthy owner to step away from the football side and start showing an ability to find the right people for the right jobs, and that needs to start this offseason.
The Saints probably don't actually want a way out of salary cap hell. They want to continue restructuring, keep going all the time and try to squeeze everything out of what's left of that era. But there's nothing left. They are old, slow and not particularly controversial. Submit to reality, rip off the band-aid and start over.
Evans is a future Hall of Famer who should never play a snap for another team. Jason Licht must negotiate a new contract with the star wideout before he even hits free agency this offseason.
NFC West
After falling to the Texans last year, the Cardinals will have two first-round picks in 2024. They need these picks to hit and form the foundation of the Jonathan Gannon era along with players like Trey McBride, Paris Johnson Jr. and BJ Ojulari and (presumably) Kyler Murray and Budda Baker.
See how much fun the Rams had against the Saints on Thursday night? We want it to stay that way for the sake of the Rams and their fans. As long as they have McVay, Stafford and an offensive line that isn't completely in shambles, the good times should continue on that side of the ball. As for Donald, he remains one of the best in the league and without a doubt one of the best of all time, and we want to see him continue to solidify those things for years to come.
The 49ers have lost three games this season. Each of them arrived without Williams, Samuel, or both. In all other games they demolished all competitors. With these guys in the lineup, the Niners are the favorite to win the overall game.
Seattle's offense has underperformed at times this year due to injuries along the offensive line, but all the pieces are there for this unit to be successful. But even if Devon Witherspoon lives up to expectations, the pass defense still needs a lot of work. The Seahawks need a better pass rush and, most importantly, better coverage players at the second and third levels.
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AFC East
The Bills are 8-6, as are the Jaguars, Bengals, Colts and Texans. However, due to various tiebreakers, they would currently find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture, looking inward. In these final three weeks of the season, Buffalo needs to catch a break so it can truly be the team no one wants to see in January.
Speaking of this exact scenario, the Dolphins need to do the opposite of that. They want to take on the Bills in the AFC East in Week 18 and not have to worry about losing control of the division and potentially a playoff spot on the final day of the season.
Regardless of whether it's Bill Belichick or not, the Pats desperately need some of their first and second round picks to actually become foundational players for the team's future. It's been far too long since this happened. Given the team's poor performance this season, it would be particularly damaging if they sniffed 2024 again.
The Jets brought in Nathaniel Hackett, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Tim Boyle at Rodgers' behest. How did that work?
AFC North
In each of the last two seasons, Lamar Jackson was injured near the end of the year, causing the Ravens to either miss the playoffs entirely or lose early. We don't want that to happen this year – especially since the Ravens have already lost Mark Andrews and Keaton Mitchell.
Jake Browning will do well to keep the Bengals in the game while Burrow is out all year, but we know that in order to be Super Bowl contenders in the future, the Bengals will need to play Burrow at his full capacity. Between his calf problem in training camp and the wrist injury that ended his season, that never happened this year. Let's hope this is a deviation.
Okay, so this is what the Browns have wanted since… the beginning of their existence. But that doesn't mean it's not what they should want right now.
The Matt Canada era was a massive disaster by any measure. The post-Matt Canada era looked fun for a week, but has since come back down to earth. The Steelers will need to make significant changes on offense this coming offseason and can't be afraid to step out of their comfort zone with a creative addition.
AFC South
CJ Stroud is expected to miss his second straight game due to a concussion. Tank Dell is done for the year with a broken leg. They're both so good and so much fun, and it would be nice if they came into next season in good health. (Anything the Texans do this year regarding the playoffs is just a bonus.)
We've seen for years that Steichen knows exactly what he's doing when it comes to putting quarterbacks and offenses in general in position to be successful. We saw it when he was offensive coordinator in LA during Justin Herbert's rookie season, we saw it in Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts, and we saw it with both Richardson and Gardner Minshew. Let's hope for a long, happy and successful partnership between the head coach and the incredibly talented quarterback.
Many people (myself included) thought Lawrence would take a big step forward this year in his second season under Doug Pederson. It didn't really happen for various reasons. He is still doing quite well and has an incredibly bright future. But the step he's making to become an annual MVP candidate and lead his team deep into the playoffs every year is exactly what we're looking for.
The Titans will almost certainly put the Derrick Henry/Ryan Tannehill era behind them this offseason. They need Levis to be the man around whom they will build the next era.
AFC West
Wilson's numbers from this season look pretty good. The film doesn't tell quite the same story. If the Broncos don't want to be bad enough to take a replacement in the draft, they need Wilson to be a good player who will drive his team's success, not someone who is averaging a career-low in yards per attempt and a lot in return Yards, sacks and ultimately an unsustainably high touchdown rate because the team can't run the ball into the end zone for some reason.
Well, the one from the Chiefs is pretty self-explanatory.
Mark Davis wasn't much more patient than his father when it came to finding head coaches and general managers. Or quarterbacks. Or players in a different position. But Al Davis had at least some success during his tenure. We can't say that for Mark yet. Finding the right people to run the organization and letting them do their thing is a must.
The Brandon Staley era is over, as is the Tom Telesco era. The Spanos family has a gem of a quarterback who will lead the franchise into the future. Now the best possible people have to be found to get the best out of an extremely talented player.