The NFL's biggest disappointments through the first quarter of the season

• Crisis time for Bryce Young: Last year's No. 1 overall pick continued to struggle in Carolina and is now holding the clipboard for Andy Dalton.

• Highly paid receivers struggling so far: Brandon Aiyuk and Amari Cooper have been kept below 200 receiving yards through four games, partially due to drops.

• Unlock your edge with a PFF+ subscription: Get full access to all our in-season fantasy tools, including weekly rankings, WR/CB matchup charts, weekly projections, the Start-Sit Optimizer and more. Sign up now!

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

With four games of the NFL season already behind us, we’re starting to form a rough understanding of team and player performance. It’s still too early to make many bodacious claims, and the jury is still out on many elements, but we're deep enough into the season that some negative trends have started to stand out.

There’s plenty of time for a season to turn around, but these 10 players have put themselves squarely in the spotlight due to underwhelming play over the first quarter of the campaign. 

QB Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers

Many expected Young to make strides in his second NFL season, especially after the Panthers upgraded the crux of their offense and ushered in Dave Canales. Instead, the opposite occurred.

Young wasn’t just bad to begin 2024 — he was even worse than he was in his rookie year. His 30.1 overall PFF grade was over 25 points below last year’s mark, and his turnover-worthy play rate rose from 3.3% to 4.2%. The former Heisman winner was erratic in the pocket, didn’t make good decisions and sometimes even struggled to complete passes without jumping as a force of habit.

Canales made the bold decision to bench Young in Week 3, and while it was somewhat shocking, it would’ve been harder to find a more disappointing player this season (let alone in the last few years).

QB Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

There doesn’t seem to be much chatter about Goff this season (after all, he just led the Lions to a magical year), but his 2024 largely hasn’t been up to par with what we’ve come to expect, even after his spectacular Monday night showing.

After receiving a four-year, $212 million extension in May, Goff has been nowhere near the caliber he was to warrant that deal. Among the 33 quarterbacks with 50-plus dropbacks this year, Goff ranks 25th in overall grade and 26th in passing grade. And as been the story for the bulk of his career, Goff’s woes under pressure (41.8 passing grade) haven’t been minimized.

Goff's flawless performance against the Seahawks was certainly a harbinger of things to come, but he'll need to ensure he keeps the ball away from defenders moving forward.

Jared Goff: Pressured passing in 2024

QB Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

Hurts is another highly-paid and touted quarterback who hasn’t met his standard this year. Hurts’ poor play has been one of the focal contributors to the Eagles’ slow offensive start. The 26-year-old sits 28th in passing grade among qualified quarterbacks this year.

The biggest concern with Hurts has been his recklessness with the football. His 11 turnover-worthy plays are the most in football by a whopping four plays. In a more macro sense, Hurts’ turnover-worthy play percentage (6.7%) is almost triple what it was last year (2.3%) and even more amplified relative to his MVP-caliber 2022 (1.8%).

Hurts hasn’t been aided by a depleted supporting cast, and his metrics likely will improve once Philadelphia’s offense returns a boatload of star power. At the end of the day, though, Hurts hasn’t played superb football — and that’s his responsibility, independent of his cast.

TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Several marquee tight ends could have been plugged in here, but few are having a more jarring season than Andrews. After starting his career with six straight seasons of a 75.0-plus receiving grade, Andrews has looked nowhere near as effective in 2024. In fact, his 58.6 receiving grade ranks 35th among 50 qualifying tight ends.

Many times, binary counting stats aren’t representative. But for Andrews, it feels telling that he only has six catches (seven, if not for a drop) through four games. Lamar Jackson has begun to defer to the explosive Isaiah Likely in Andrews’ stead.

It’s still too premature to claim that the 28-year-old Andrews isn’t the same player coming off a season-ending leg injury. However, the trajectory isn’t encouraging so far.

Edge Cameron Jordan, New Orleans Saints

Over the last five-plus years, Saints fans have come to expect dominant performances from Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis. However, that hasn’t been the case for Jordan this season.

Jordan has mustered only four pressures and one defensive stop through four games. His 4.6% pass-rush win rate would mark a career-low, while his 60.7 overall grade would also reset a new benchmark.

Other Saints pass-rushers like Carl Granderson and Chase Young have begun to pick up the slack, but it’s still a bit disheartening to see such little production from one of the game’s best for a long time.

WR Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers

Maybe it was his convoluted holdout or the 49ers being down several offensive stars, but Aiyuk hasn’t played like the receiver we’re accustomed to seeing.

Through four games, the new $30 million man has collected only 13 catches for 167 yards, and his grades have been just as lackluster. Aiyuk’s 66.0 receiving grade slots 46th out of 69 receivers with 15 or more targets and would be a career-low.

The problems have extended beyond simply getting open, too. Aiyuk has two drops — which already matches his 2023 total — on 120 targets.

Aiyuk is too talented of a receiver to expect this trend to continue, but it’s an eyebrow-raising one at the very least.

WR Amari Cooper, Cleveland Browns

The parallels between Aiyuk and Cooper extend beyond contractual sagas and trade hypotheticals from this summer. Cooper, too, hasn’t been as magnificent on the gridiron in 2024, totaling 16 catches for 148 yards.

The Cleveland star has experienced a considerable decline in almost every metric, including receiving grade (79.6 to 62.2), yards per route run (2.21 to 0.86) and passer rating when targeted (88.3 to 66.8). His drops have been the backbone of his troubles, with his four passes not hauled in the most in the NFL.

Given that Cooper is on the wrong side of 30, the general disconnect of the Browns’ offense and the possibility that he may be playing for another team come early November, there’s less confidence that his issues will be fixed.

Amari Cooper: Career PFF grades

LB Patrick Queen, Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers made Queen the fourth-highest-paid inside linebacker in football this free agency, but the signing hasn’t yet paid off. The former Raven has earned a 41.1 PFF grade through four weeks, 86th among 90 qualifying players at the position. 

Queen’s run defense has been especially alarming. The 24-year-old hasn’t done well in playing runs aggressively, shedding blocks or making tackles — his 21.4% missed tackle rate is tied for the ninth-highest among that same group of linebackers.

It's only four games, but Patrick Queen has not looked good for the Steelers 😬

Struggling to be aggressive in the run game, get off blocks and finish tackles so far pic.twitter.com/L5jC0x8gMI

— Bradley Locker (@Bradley_Locker) September 30, 2024

Linebacker play is extremely volatile for most (excluding the superhumans like Fred Warner), so some of this regression might be expected, especially as he no longer plays alongside Roquan Smith. Even then, Queen’s quality of tape and production has dropped an unbelievable amount from 2023 to 2024.

CB L’Jarius Sneed, Tennessee Titans

Another high-paid defensive newcomer who hasn’t lived up to the billing so far. After being acquired (and extended) by the Titans this offseason, Sneed hasn’t looked like the lockdown corner who broke through in Kansas City. Sneed’s 43.0 overall grade would be the lowest in his career by over 20 full points.

Known for his lockdown coverage skills, Sneed hasn’t prevented separation nearly as well in 2024. His 46.1 coverage grade is the fourth-lowest mark among 107 qualifying cornerbacks. 

The entire Titans team hasn’t looked cohesive under Brian Callahan just yet, so it’s not as if Sneed is the only one to blame. Still, the new $76 million corner needs to play more like his championship-caliber self.

DI Kenny Clark, Green Bay Packers

The Packers have fielded several underwhelming players on both sides of the ball this year — headlined by Jordan Love, who missed two games due to injury — but Clark also hasn’t held up his share. One of the best defensive linemen in football over the last five years, Clark has mustered only a 46.3 overall grade this year.

What’s worrisome is that Clark’s ability to generate pressure has waned through four games. The 28-year-old is winning on just 7.0% of snaps, which would easily be a career-low mark. Thus far, Clark has accrued only nine pressures after three straight seasons with at least 45.

In light of the fact that Green Bay’s front seven hasn’t been superb this season — currently sitting 25th in team pass-rushing grade — it’s hard to single out only Clark, who hasn’t received much help. Nonetheless, the Packers will need Clark to turn back the clock if they want to achieve their goals.