2024 Pro Football All-Pro Team

 By John Turney 

It's time once again for our annual All-Pro teams and while the wide receiver choices were clear as well as the edge rushers, it was a particularly tough year for defensive interior guys and for the running backs and quarterbacks. 

But we gave it a shot.

Football is situational, enough so that you can't pick just 11 players on offense and defense. There are specialists who deserve mention as well.

This year, rather than go with three wide receivers, we went with two tight ends. A trends lots of teams are moving to. Tight ends will play in the slot, on a wing and out wide -- with the wide receiver moving or motioning to the slot or across the formation. As such we went with 12 personnel and also a fullback. 

We went with a Fangio-style defense, a 3-4 but also with a fifth defensive back who'd come in on passing downs to replace the nose tackle. 

With that preface, here's the PFJ 2024 All-Pro team:

OFFENSE

Lemar Jackson

Receivers

Ja'Marr Chase of the Bengals grabs one spot and the Vikings' Justin Jefferson the others. Chase is won the triple crown (led NFL in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions) and Jefferson is at times uncoverable.

I like George Kittle at tight end. He still gets big numbers but he also blocks. Rookie Brock Bowers is the second tight end. Picture him as the "move" tight end. 

Offensive Line

The right tackle is the Eagles' Lane Johnson in what may be his best-ever season. His backup is Penei Sewell from the Lions. Johnson put on a clinic this year. 

On the left side, we are going with and Rashawn Slater at number two and Tristan Wirfs, the Buc's elite pass protector on the first team. Why elite? Per Pro Football Focus (PFF) he didn't give up a sack and only allowed a dozen pressures all season. Pretty good, huh?

We don't pick guards left- and right. They are too similar and these days left- and right tackle distinctions are breaking down some. But Joe Thuney is one guard and Chris Lindstrom the other.

Thuney played some tackle for the Chiefs. We've picked Thuney in the past several times. Lindstrom, too. Lindstrom can miss a little in pass protection but is a dominant run blocker. 

Tyler Smith, Dallas' left guard is one of the backups and Quinn Meinerz of Denver is the other.  We almost went with Meinerz over Lindstrom—it was neck and neck. If you went the other way, that's okay by us. Both are excellent.

Creed Humphrey is the best center in football this year and if there were an award for offensive lineman of the year it would be between him and Lane Johnson. Take your pick. But on second thought Wirfs might like a word.

Backs

I am going with Lamar Jackson on the first team and Josh Allen on the second. But it could just as easily be the other way around. Jackson has a shot at being the MVP this year, which would be his third. Can a quarterback be a lock for the Hall of Fame after just seven years? 

Lemar had his best passing year—he threw for 41 touchdowns and just four picks. He surpassed 4,000 yards for the first time, led the NFL in yards per attempt and also with his 119.6 passer rating. And that does not even get into the advanced analytics.

At midseason, Josh Allen looked like it would be his year to be MVP and first-team All-Pro. However, Lemar Jackson just kept getting better and better while Allen leveled off somewhat. Regardless, Allen had a great year and still has a chance to get his team to the Super Bowl—and win it. That is what matters most, of course. 

Saquon Barkley is the first-team running back with Derrick Henry the second-teamer. But it could almost be the other way around, too. Jahmyr Gibbs is a super strong honorable mention. He's more apt in today's game because of his receiving prowess but Henry means too much to a surging Ravens team even though he's a throwback kind of running back who only average in catching passes.

I am picking Patrick Ricard as the fullback. He was opening holes for Derrick Henry and even Lemar Jackson in the powerful Ravens' running attack. Kyle Juszczyk does everything for the 49ers. This year he had to block for a lot of backs—everyone was injured. He was not making as many plays as before, which is why he's second-team this year.

Special teams

Brandon Aubrey is the kicker and Logan Cooke is the punter. Cooke led the NFL in a metric we like—"Net Yards Above Average" or NYOA. Aubrey was the pick more of an eye-test pick. He's clutch and can bomb them.

Kavontae Turpin of Dallas is the kick returner and Kalif Raymond is the punt returner. Raymond beats out Denver's Marvin Mims who had a higher average but he also had almost three times as many fair catches. He also had a return for a touchdown and Mims didn't.

The Saints' J.T. Gray is the coverage guy and Brenden Schooler is on the second team. Both cover and both are capable of blocking a kick. 

DEFENSE

Myles Garrett

Line

Myles Garrett is my 4-3 edge defender and I am picking T.J. Watt as the 3-4 edge. Both are in their prime. Watt gutted it out through injuries. Maxx Crosby was in contention but he just missed too much time. Trey Hendrickson had another great year, but in a league with Myles Garrett, it is hard to put him on the first team of a primarily 40 scheme. 

He does beat out guys like Nick Bosa, Danielle Hunter and all the others who roughly play in similar systems. 

T.J. Watt was nicked up late in the season but still produced 11-1/2 sacks and ten run/pass stuffs and six forced fumbles. This year he surpassed the century mark in sacks (he now was 108) in just eight seasons. 

Behind Watt as a more-or-less linebacker edge is Micah Parsons. He's not an off-ball linebacker, but he's not really a defensive end, either. He moves around a lot, almost a joker-type player. It was not his best year but he stands out when you watch him. He does special things.

Give Jared Verse a shout-out. He's second-team All-NFC and was on fire for the first three-fourths of the season. He leveled off some and when his use of hands catches up with his power moves—watch out. 

Dexter Lawrence would be here, too, but missed too much time to be a first-team All-Pro. They will make other teams but we've always gone with players who participated in 75% of the games. Sexy Dexy and Mad Maxx played twelve games each. Thirteen is our minimum. Sorry guys.

So, the interior rushers arethe Chiefs' Chris Jones and Jalen Carter of the Eagles and the shade tackle is Vita Vea who toils in Tampa Bay. Jones is the "rush" tackle and Carter plays in a 3-4 and lines up on the right side just inside a tackle or just outside a guard. 

Vea is shaded on the center most of the time—essentially an A-Gap defender. Though we've seen me move outside on occasion and those reps are fun to watch. We also like his stunts that are coordinated with the inside linebackers that attack the two A-Gaps. Fun stuff.

Cam Heyward had a year worthy of All-Pro, but in a narrow call, we went with Carter as the kind of 4i-5-3-1-tech guy. If someone thinks Heyward had a better season -- fine. Sometimes it's a count flip. 

Denver Broncos defensive interior Zach Allen backs up Chris Jones. Allen led the NFL in quarterback hits (per NFL). Not only that he led defensive interior players in pressures according to PFF, Sports Information Solutions (SIS) and NextGen Stats (NGS) edging Chris Jones by all three sources. 

 But it's also part of the confusion of multiple defensive interior positions. Allen plays a position similar to Jalen Carter's, but on the right side. But late in the year the Broncos were using more and more one-gap calls and Allen was outstanding. 

Honestly, Jalen's game just looked a little better on film. He used club moves, swim moves, bull rushes with ease and drew a lot of extra attention. 

The second-team All-Pro at shade tackle was Grover Stewart of the Colts. He's a supreme run stuffer. 

Honorable mention goes to Zach Sieler who had a good year but was regulated to second-team All-AFC. 

Linebackers

Fred Warner and Zack Baun are the linebackers. Warner was a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year until he cracked an ankle. The 49ers' defense took a step back but Warner didn't.

Everyone noticed how many plays Baun was making early in the season. He's the most improved player in the NFL. He plays off-ball, edge, rushes, covers and makes plays in the backfield on runners. A joy to watch.

Jets linebacker Quincy Williams led the NFL in run/pass stuffs, a PFJ stat with 12 and he forced four fumbles. The Jets defense was great at times and not-so-great late in some games. But when we saw him he was looking like he always did. Using NFL numbers he's averaged 118 tackles, 13 TFLs, 2-1/2 sacks, two forced fumbles, five passes defended and a fumble recovery the last four years. 

He's not quite the second-coming of Lavonte David but even a reasonable facsimile of him is pretty good and Quincy Williams is that.

On the second team behind Fred Warner is Roquan Smith, the Ravens inside 'backer. Ho hum, just another season with over 150 tackles on a hard-nosed defense, of which he is the leader. 

Secondary

The Broncos' Patrick Surtain II bounced back from a subpar year to be the NFL's top corner and Derek Stingley Jr. is the other corner. The Texans' secondary was terrific and Stingley was the top player on it. 

Jesse Bates III is one safety and the other is Brian Branch of the Lions who moved from more of a slot position to safety this year and did well. Kyle Hamilton of the Ravens and Kerby Joseph back those two guys up. 

Budda Baker and Derwin James are also worthy of being second-team. There were just four slots for six great safeties so by narrow margins they have to fall to the All-Conference teams.

Marlon Humphrey of the Ravens is the slot corner with the Colts' Kenny Moore II behind him. Both can play outside but do their damage trying to prevent big plays in the seems. 

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The formats for the All-NFC and All-AFC teams are a little different than the All-Pro team. The balance of top players at certain positions in each conference skewed the idea. But to keep tradition we picked All-Conferences teams.

Here they are: