8 Reasons the 2016 NFL Season will be Epic
Does the NFL kickoff give you butterflies? Make you tingly all over? Us too.
It’s the best damn day of the year, if you’re an NFL fan. Let the trash talking, chest bumping, fist pumping, face-painting, tailgating, and insanely premature Super Bowl predictions begin.
All we know is that tonight, we begin where we ended in February: The Broncos and the Panthers. Denver without their legendary QB (but thankfully Peyton Manning is still starring in approximately 947 commercials throughout the season). Carolina with their fashionably heroic QB Cam Newton intact (as long as he doesn’t lose and start sulking), but without cornerback Josh Norman (now on the Redskins and ready to taunt OBJ multiple times this season, now that they’re divisional rivals).
And we have so much more to look forward to:
- For just the fourth time in NFL history, we have three African American QBs taking up an entire depth chart, in Buffalo.
2. We have the rise of the rookie QBs, with this year’s second-round draft pick Carson Wentz starting in Philly (buh-bye Sam Bradford, traded to the Vikings). Dak Prescott pushed into starting duty for Dallas with Tony Romo injured again. Plus Trevor Siemian, a seventh-round pick in 2015, taking over the helm in Denver (with another rookie Paxton Lynch, also waiting in the wings, vying for starting QB there). While first-round draft pick Jared Goff will start the season inactive with the Rams in Week 1.
3. We have a history-making suspension for Tom Brady, who does not seem to be wearing the NFL sticker on the back of his helmet (he denies that it’s a subtle protest).
4. And we have the debate on Niners backup QB Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand during the National Anthem raging on and making its way around the globe when President Obama spoke about it from China this week. He’s received support from around the NFL and beyond (for the most part), while his jersey sales have soared. He’s pledged to donate whatever proceeds he receives to communities in need.
5. We have the Rams returning to L.A. for the first time since 2002… the Chargers possibly playing their last season in San Diego (it just might be Philip Rivers’ last season, too) … and the Raiders flirting with Las Vegas.
6. We have an AFC South that should be competitive again, with Andrew Luck back at Indy, Marcus Mariota steering the Titans, Brock Osweiler supposedly the QB the Texans have needed, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, led by Blake Bortles and picking up some top defensive rookies in CB Jalen Ramsey, and LB Myles Jack.
7. We have lots of coaching changes, including rookies Adam Gase (Miami Dolphins), Ben McAdoo (New York Giants), Doug Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles) and Dirk Koetter (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), plus brotherly love in Buffalo, as the Bills’ head coach Rex Ryan is joined by his brother Rob as assistant coach.
8. And thankfully, we have new emojis and hashtags for every single team. And yes, someone has already ranked them.
It’s what we do. It’s football season.
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