Biggest story lines of the 2024 NFL season

The countdown to kickoff is on, and only a couple more days separate us from a historic Week 1 that will feature games on four different days, played on two different continents. The Chiefs and the Ravens will bring in the new year on Thursday, Sept. 5th while the Eagles and the Packers will play the first ever Friday game on Kickoff weekend from Sao Paolo, Brazil. We know you have been foaming at the mouth for a taste of real football over the last month, so just in case you got a little too caught up, here are the top five story lines coming into the opening weekend.

Chiefs three-peat

There is no question on whether or not the Kansas City Chiefs are a dynasty. They have won three Super Bowls over the last five years and have been to the Conference Championship six years in a row. That sort of consistency is only matched by the New England Patriots who made the Conference Championship eight times from 2011 to 2018. This team has it all. A three-time Super Bowl MVP in Patrick Mahomes. A larger than life couple with jock Travis Kelce and pop princess Taylor Swift. You’ve got a Hall of Fame head coach in Andy Reid who is also larger than life. And most importantly, this teams success has put them in the stratosphere of some of the best teams ever. A three-peat would put them at the peak of the NFL summit. It’s KC against the world this year, and everyone will be aiming to knock them off their throne, starting with Week 1 when they host the Baltimore Ravens from Arrowhead.

The return of Rodgers

A 40-year old four time MVP, who moved to the big city to start a new chapter only to have it taken from him before it even began. A QB trying to turn tragedy to triumph. It’s a story fit for Broadway, and Aaron Rodgers is used to the spotlight. If Rodgers was the story of the season last year, that makes him even more of a media magnet, especially in the Big Apple. The Jets are coming off a dismal season but they aren’t a dismal team. Rodgers has plenty of weapons around him, and this season we will see how much the California kid has in the tank. They take on the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers on Monday night in the Bay to start their campaign.

Dynamic Kickoff

It was the story of the preseason, and is surely to be the talk of the town during the NFL regular season. It’s not often when the league introduces a rule that has such a drastic affect on the outcome of a game, but with the new dynamic kickoff not only does it seem like players are staying safer (which was the original reason for the rule change), but there is simultaneously more excitement. Kickoff returns were a thing of the past. Essentially obsolete. Nearing extinction, but the NFL has resuscitated the kickoff return. If you don’t know the new rule here is a little recap for you. The fact of the matter is, not only is the kick return back, but the average starting yard line throughout the preseason was considerably farther up the field than previous seasons. That in turn should lead to more points, says NFL executive Vice President of Communications Jeff Miller “It’s something we’re going to look at for sure and monitor as we go through the regular season, if we do see continued drives starting places three to four to five yards ahead of where we were a year ago, we would expect that to translate to some number of points throughout the rest of the game.”

Brady’s broadcast debut

The next thing to be looking out won’t exactly take place on the field, but in the boardcast booth a few rows up fro the 50 yard line. The greatest to ever play the game is back from his football hiatus and taking his endless amount of knowledge to the television set as the color commentator for FOX’s Game of the Week. He signed a mega deal worth $375 million dollars for the next 10 years, and he will debut in Week 1 as the Cleveland Browns host the Dallas Cowboys. He will be teaming up with play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt all year long. Whether you like him or you can’t stand him, you know you are going to tune in to hear what the GOAT has to say. There might be a period of adjustment from the field to the booth for the seven-time Super Bowl winner who is used to seeing more of these teams as his opponent, and now he will have to unbiased in his new gig. “Amazing. Obviously, having the Cowboys on is a huge draw. As ‘America’s Team,’ that’s going to get a little hard for me to say that all the time. Understand they were the competition for a long time,” he said.

Rookie QBs

Carrying over from the preseason, one of the most anticipated parts of this season is going to be watching the rookies quarterbacks of this year’s draft class on display. Some will be starting from the first snap of the season, while others might have to be patient on the sideline until their turn comes. The six rookie QBs taken in the draft ties a record with the 1983 Draft that saw John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, among others taken in the opening round. So far there are three rookie QBs set to start in Week 1. Caleb Williams has been the shoe in starter since getting drafted by the Bears, Jayden Daniels didn’t take long to prove his is worthy of the starting gig in the nation’s capital, and Bo Nix will be the first Week 1 rookie starter in the Mile High City since John Elway. It’s not going to be as easy as C.J. Stroud made it look last year, but these rookies are have bright futures and this could be the beginning of a new era of QBs.