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Which 2023 non-playoff team(s) will make playoffs this season?

Jim Reineking   Paste BN

Hope springs eternal in July.

Every team is 0-0 as training camps open.

Mounting injuries and defeats are weeks away from potentially derailing a team's optimistic summertime hopes and dreams.

In the NFL, the narrowest of margins decide winner and loser. The parity the league enjoys means every team has a chance at reaching the playoffs. New contenders emerge every season.

The numbers are proof of the "on any given Sunday" adage: Every year since 1990, when the playoff field expanded from 10 teams to 12 (two more postseason slots were added in 2020) at least four teams that didn’t reach the playoffs in the prior season have qualified the next year. Last season, six teams made it after failing to do so in 2022.  Over the past four years, the average has been nearly seven with a minimum of six new entries each time. The average year-over-year since 1990 is 5.85.

That is A LOT of playoff turnover!

Which 2023 non-playoff team will make the leap into the postseason this year? Paste BN Sports' Nate Davis ranked all 18 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs last season and their chances in 2024:

  1. New York Jets — A team that shares the longest playoff drought (13 seasons) in North America’s major pro sports leagues most definitely has the horsepower to summarily end it. Having a healthy Aaron Rodgers will help tremendously.
  2. Cincinnati Bengals — Joe Burrow is back … even if his hair isn’t. But his return from wrist surgery is highly suggestive that a team which finished 9-8 in 2023, despite losing its quarterback for nearly half the season, is well positioned to chase its third division crown since 2021.
  3. Indianapolis Colts — With rookie head coach Shane Steichen calling the shots – and plays – the offense took a quantum leap forward in 2023, scoring at least 20 points in nine consecutive games at one point … despite the extended absences of QB Anthony Richardson and 2021 All-Pro RB Jonathan Taylor.
  4. Atlanta Falcons — Once again, the NFC South appears to project as the league’s weakest, i.e. most winnable, division. And this time, the Falcons seem to have its strongest complement of quarterbacks after years of being deficient at football’s most critical position. 
  5. Jacksonville Jaguars — Perceived as the AFC South’s rising power a year ago, they collapsed after an encouraging 8-3 start – undermined by turnovers and injuries – yet, like Indy, still finished just a game back of the first-place Houston Texans in the divisional standings. 

➤ See which teams rank from No. 6 through 18

📷: NFL training camps 🏈

News, notes and tidbits from around the NFL

Previously on 'Hard Knocks': How close did Giants come to drafting a QB?

The penultimate episode of "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants" gave viewers an intimate look inside the team's draft war room. By owning the No. 6 overall selection, the Giants had a big decision to make.

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