The 2024 NFL season hasn\’t even kicked off yet, and we can already see the storm clouds gathering over several franchises. While everyone\’s focused on Super Bowl predictions and fantasy drafts, there are three teams that are quietly setting themselves up for absolute disaster. We\’re not talking about a bad season or missing the playoffs. We\’re talking about complete organizational chaos that could set these franchises back for years.

The Cleveland Browns: A $73 Million Disaster in the Making

Let\’s start with the most obvious train wreck waiting to happen. The Cleveland Browns are walking into this season carrying $73 million in dead cap space. That\’s not just bad salary cap management – that\’s organizational malpractice on a historic level.

But here\’s what makes it even worse: they\’re hemorrhaging all that money while fielding what might be the most dysfunctional offense in the entire league. Last season, they averaged 15.2 points per game, which was dead last in the NFL. Their offensive line was a turnstile, giving up 66 sacks and making life miserable for whoever was unfortunate enough to line up behind center.

So how did they respond to this disaster? By assembling a quarterback room that looks like it was put together by throwing darts at a retirement home directory. They\’ve got 40-year-old Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel. That\’s not a depth chart – that\’s a charity case.

The Browns are basically paying premium prices for a Pinto, and somehow they think this is going to work out. Spoiler alert: it\’s not.

The Dallas Cowboys: Jerry\’s World is Crumbling

Down in Big D, Jerry Jones is dealing with his own special brand of chaos. His best player is holding out looking for $40 million annually, and Jerry\’s response has been essentially \”I don\’t care.\” That\’s definitely one way to handle contract negotiations with your franchise cornerstone.

Meanwhile, they\’re paying Dak Prescott $50 million against the cap to captain one of the worst defenses in football history. The Cowboys allowed 355 yards per game last season, which was second-worst in the entire league. They gave up 27.5 points per game, which was also second-worst in the NFL.

Think about that for a second. You\’re paying quarterback money for elite production, but your defense is so bad that it doesn\’t matter what your offense does. It\’s like buying a Ferrari and then filling it up with sugar water instead of gasoline.

The Cowboys have all the talent in the world on paper, but their organizational structure is held together with duct tape and Jerry Jones\’s ego. That\’s not a recipe for success – that\’s a recipe for implosion.

The Pittsburgh Steelers: Living in the Past

The Steelers might be the most fascinating case study of all three because they\’re actually trying to compete, but they\’re doing it in the most backwards way possible. They\’ve decided to hitch their wagon to 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who had a 90 passer rating last season. That ranked 20th among qualified quarterbacks, which is not exactly what you\’d call elite production.

But here\’s where it gets really interesting. Rodgers got sacked 40 times last year with the Jets, and now he\’s going to a Steelers offense that allowed 49 sacks. So they\’re taking a quarterback who already struggles with pressure and putting him in a situation where he\’s going to face even more pressure.

And just to make things more complicated, they\’re running Arthur Smith\’s offense, which loves to pound the ground game. So you\’re asking a Hall of Fame pocket passer to become a game manager in a ground-and-pound system with questionable pass protection.

It\’s like asking a Formula 1 driver to compete in a demolition derby. Technically possible, but probably not going to end well for anyone involved.

The Perfect Storm of Dysfunction

What makes all three of these situations so fascinating is that they\’re all dysfunctional in completely different ways. The Browns are dysfunctional because they have no plan and no talent. The Cowboys are dysfunctional because they have talent but no organizational structure. The Steelers are dysfunctional because they\’re trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

But they all share one common thread: they\’re all setting themselves up for spectacular failure in ways that could have been easily avoided with better decision-making.

The Domino Effect

When these teams start to implode – and they will – it\’s going to create ripple effects throughout the entire league. Coaches are going to get fired. General managers are going to lose their jobs. Players are going to demand trades. Front offices are going to panic and make even worse decisions.

We\’ve seen this movie before, and it never ends well. The difference is that this time, we can see it coming from a mile away. The warning signs are flashing bright red, and somehow these organizations are just pretending everything is fine.

The Race to the Bottom

The real question isn\’t whether these teams are going to implode – it\’s which one is going to implode first and most spectacularly. Are we looking at a Browns season so bad it makes their previous disasters look competent? Will Jerry Jones finally push his organization past the breaking point? Or will the Steelers\’ experiment with an aging quarterback in the wrong system blow up in their faces?

My money\’s on it being a photo finish to see who can destroy their season fastest. These franchises are all sprinting toward disaster, and they seem to be proud of how fast they\’re running.

Ready for the complete breakdown of exactly how these three franchises are setting themselves up for disaster? Check out my video where I dive deep into the numbers and explain why these implosions are inevitable.