Our best stuff from 2024
It was a fun year. Our most-read stories are linked inside.
Good morning!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. What a fun 2024.
First, a word of warning this New Year’s Eve.
If you’re going to work horseradish into your festivities via Beef on weck… tread carefully. We had quite a scare on Christmas night. Granted, the combination of four hours of sleep and drinking a pot of coffee through our kids tearing open presents played a key role. But after spreading a generous amount of Miller’s horseradish onto my roast beef, two bites in, I felt the pain float to the back of my head and hit the deck. BAM. Unconscious for 20 to 25 seconds. Total haze. The whole works. (I think my wife is still recovering from the scene.)
Morale of the story: Space out coffee intake with glasses of water and stick to chicken wings.
What a year and what an honor it’s been to meet so many readers around the world. We celebrated our 4-year anniversary in 2024. Your willingness to hit pause on life and read a story for a half-hour or listen to a podcast fuels everything here. We’ll continue to grow because of you.
Always, the goal is to dig for a story that’s worth your valuable time.
There’s an NFL portrayed at the podium and there’s the real NFL cookin’ behind the scenes. Your investment makes it possible to sit down 1 on 1 with players and coaches. Good news, too. The plan is to cover the Super Bowl all week in New Orleans one month from now.
As 2024 flips to 2025, I wanted to share our best stuff from the year as judged by you.
Here are the most-read features, columns and podcasts if you’d like to look back.
Thanks, all.
(Note: If you’re reading in your email inbox, the post is likely clipped. Click to read the full email attachment at the bottom.)
FEATURES
The Chicago Bears have suffered through a century of quarterback purgatory. We took a tour through the graveyard to make sense of the mess, and try to figure out if Caleb Williams can change everything.
What a fascinating wide receiver. Unlike any of his kind, Romeo Doubs opens up about life in South Central LA, his Combine from hell and staying in the moment.
At the start of the offseason, we examined the state of the Buffalo Bills fresh off more playoff heartbreak. There are many lessons to glean from the 2006 Colts. Bill Polian remembers being at this exact juncture.
Go Long was back at One Bills Drive all season. The man overseeing this entire operation sat down for this illuminating Q&A. Rarely are GMs such an open book.
We all see the Lions bellcow carry four, five bodies on his back at a time. But why? Montgomery traces it all back to his roots in Cincinnati, and the present. Last February, his sister got into a car accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down. Her son also has leukemia.
We’ve been bullish on the Packers quarterback since launching in 2020. Ahead of this season, I chatted with everyone who knows him (and his game) best: Steve Calhoun, David Yost, Brett Favre, Romeo Doubs, Kurt Warner and Packers sources at 1265 Lombardi Ave. He’s got a special something inside.
Loved having the legend Michael MacCambridge author this three-part series on the Kansas City Chiefs’ quest for a three-peat. In my opinion, Michael is the greatest pro football historian going — be sure to read “America’s Game” this offseason. Can KC pull it off? We’re about to find out.
Speaking of three-peats, the Chiefs’ west coast scout sat down with Go Long at the NFL Combine. Greg Castillo was the driving force behind the Chiefs selecting cornerback Trent McDuffie. The life of a scout always blows my mind. Nothing like it in sports.
Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler meets rookie Evan Williams for dinner and an instant mentorship is born. These two players — a full generation apart — realize their football lives are strikingly similar.
How does Patrick Mahomes pull off the impossible — again and again and again? I talked to those who’ve witnessed his magic since childhood. None of this is an accident.
Everyone around the linebacker keeps dying. His aunt. Cousins. Friends. And when Long’s brother got out of his prison, he was executed in grisly fashion. All of it feeds a monster on the field — for better, for worse.
One of game’s most badass competitors was once terrified of the dark and relentlessly bullied by his sisters.
OK, maybe 2025 is the year for the Giants.
COLUMNS
Sources in Big D explain why Jerry Jones and the Cowboys sat on their hands all offseason. Mike McCarthy is getting fed up, too. Jerry’s World is a wild place.
It didn’t take long to see all of the red flags.
After another playoff exit, the Bills needed to decide whether to function through their unicorn quarterback or their head coach. Credit to Sean McDermott for letting Josh be Josh. He just may win the MVP this season.
Our Hall of Fame scribe Bob McGinn talks to scouts and execs about the Florida tight end who’s regressed each year in the pros. Their analysis is scathing, and a cautionary tale.
McGinn also examined the Indianapolis Colts’ mystery man of a quarterback. He barely played in college. Yes, Richardson had arguably the best Combine we’ve ever seen at the position. Transferring it all to the field has been a complicated process.
If only Davante Adams had a time machine…
The 49ers have been hit hard by injuries — again — but the head coach deserves his share of blame. For all of his X ‘n O innovation, Shanahan keeps falling short.
One decision on fourth and 2 proved the Bills are taking a different mentality into this postseason. You can’t leave things for chance against Mahomes. You’ve got to stick the dagger in the Chiefs. We were on hand for Buffalo’s regular-season win over KC.
PODCASTS
It was a good year to launch an NFC North-centric podcast with Bob McGinn. The Lions, Vikings, Packers (and Bears for other reasons) made this the most compelling division in football by a long shot. Here are two episodes you all enjoyed.
Wyatt Teller is why we love football. And ahead of the ‘24 season, he didn’t hold back on Bill Callahan, Deshaun Watson and much more. Alas, the Browns did not exactly meet expectations.
A year ago, Go Long did a show with Brett Favre. Here’s the final episode that crept into 2024: Favre on why he believes in Love.
Back in 2021, we had a three-parter on The Fight for Erik Kramer’s Life. He survived a suicide attempt, and that was only the beginning. Kramer nearly lost his life all over again when a woman named Cortney Baird coerced him into a sham marriage and stole tens of thousands of dollars. Finally, Kramer got some closure.
The Hall of Fame GM Wolf explains how he woke the Green Bay Packers from the dead and Leaf didn’t hold back on his darkness in retirement. After doing shows with Isaiah McKenzie and Brett Favre, we tried something new this season with “How the NFL Works.” There are still more episodes to come, too.
He’s a true enigma. Ian O’Connor and myself try to make sense of Aaron Rodgers — on and off the field.
Butler kicks back with Go Long subscribers on a Happy Hour.
Thanks for all you do and a great 2024! I've seen the league, the games and the players on a whole different level thanks to your insight and hard work. Kudos to you and let's do it again in 25!