NFL kickoff: 50 fun facts about the league as the season begins Thursday night

The Chiefs have won seven season openers in a row, a nice accomplishment for Andy Reid and the boys, but not nearly as difficult as the run Cleveland is on.

D’Andre Swift is about to set a cool record, albeit an obscure one. Davante Adams, who almost quit football as a kid, is the toast of Sin City, and the Penn State kid in Denver has a topflight quarterback and some deep inspiration.

With that, here are 50 things to know about the NFL this season.

1. Vikings star Justin Jefferson will play his first game at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 2, and the airwaves will be dominated by the Eagles’ decision to draft Jalen Reagor at No. 21 ahead of Jefferson at No. 22 in 2020. As bad of a flub as that was, the Raiders topped that. They took the first wide receiver that year when they picked Henry Ruggs at No. 12, passing on Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Tee Higgins, and Chase Claypool.

2. Week 2 also will be a homecoming for Minnesota’s first-year general manager, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, a 1999 graduate of Cherry Hill East. Oh, and Reagor will be here as well. Adofo-Mensah traded a couple of late draft picks to get Reagor from the Eagles. Whaddaya think, 10 catches for Reagor that day?

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3. Adofo-Mensah used a third-round pick on Oklahoma linebacker Brian Asamoah, who also is of Ghanaian descent. The two speak in Twi, a dialect of the African nation. “It’s crazy,” Asamoah told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I felt like God has aligned us together for a reason. Every time I talk to Kwesi, he always says it’s meant to be.”

4. Certainly no surprise that BetMGM’s top five odds for MVP all are quarterbacks: Josh Allen (7-1), Patrick Mahomes (8-1), Tom Brady (8-1), Justin Herbert (17-2), and Aaron Rodgers (10-1). Jalen Hurts is 22-1. Top odds for a non-quarterback: Indy running back Jonathan Taylor at 50-1.

5. According to ProFootballReference.com, Lions running back D’Andre Swift needs 1,312 yards to pass Rich Gannon as the all-time NFL rushing leader among St. Joseph’s Prep alums. Gannon, who had some wheels when he was a quarterback from 1987-04, ran for 2,449 yards. Swift, in his third season, is at 1,138.

6. Some trivia. Aaron Rodgers needs 51 touchdown passes for 500 in his career and seven interceptions for 100 in his career. Brady (624) is the all-time TD passing leader, but who threw the most career interceptions? Hint: It’s not Brady.

7. Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby has gone from alcohol rehab following his 2019 rookie season to become one of the more menacing players in the league. In about a month, he will become a father for the first time. Fiancee Rachel Washburn is due to deliver a girl on Oct. 3, the day after Vegas hosts rival Denver.

8. “Seeing a baby kick around in her stomach is like the craziest thing,” said Crosby, 25. “But it’s incredible. It just gives me an extra bit of motivation having a daughter on the way. … I can’t wait until she gets here. We’re going to have a blast. It’s going to be great.”

9. The Raiders signed Arizona’s Chandler Jones to line up on the opposite side of Crosby along the defensive line. Jones had 10½ sacks last season and knows his new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham from their days in New England.

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10. The big offseason jackpot in Vegas, however, was acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams from Green Bay, giving him a massive contract, and reuniting him with Derek Carr, his former teammate at Fresno State. Adams, who has had 100-plus catches in three of the last four years, almost quit football after breaking his arm while playing Pop Warner ball. The Raiders gave him a five-year, $141 million deal. Now just stay away from the craps tables.

11. The Bills have gotten plenty of attention from bettors to win the Super Bowl, something the franchise has never done. Buffalo won the AFL championship in 1965, just before Lamar Hunt and Pete Rozelle tried to give this whole “Super Bowl” thing a chance by pitting the winners of the NFL and AFL.

12. SuperBook/New Jersey’s top Super Bowl odds: Buffalo (6-1), Tampa Bay (7-1), Green Bay (10-1), Kansas City (10-1), L.A. Chargers (10-1), L.A. Rams (10-1). Super Book has the Eagles at 25-1.

13. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s assertion that his new quarterback in Miami (Tua Tagovailoa) is more accurate than his previous one in Kansas City (Mahomes) will be scrutinized every time Tua throws one at a receiver’s ankles. Unfortunately, Miami and Kansas City do not play in the regular season.

14. For the record, Tagovailoa’s career completion percentage is 66.2%. Mahomes is 66.1%, although he has thrown 1,667 more passes than his Miami counterpart.

15. Rams future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald is two sacks away from 100 for his career, and one more helmet swing away from a hefty suspension. Sacks generally aren’t a reliable metric for defensive tackles, but 98 in eight seasons is impressive. The Eagles, who are not on the Rams’ schedule this year, are the only team Donald has faced more than twice without registering a sack.

16. In three seasons with Kliff Kingsbury as head coach, the Cardinals are 15-5-1 in the first seven games of the season and 9-19 the rest of the way. They host the Eagles in Week 5.

17. Trivia answer: Brett Favre is the all-time interceptions leader with 336. Favre threw 29 picks in one year (2005). Rodgers has thrown 28 total in the last six seasons.

18. Jacksonville brought in Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson, who knows all about the challenges of being an NFL quarterback, to mentor 2021 No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. The Jags are 4-29 in the last two seasons and fans dressed up as clowns for home games last year.

19. Press Taylor will run the Jags offense and Mike Caldwell is in charge of the defense. Each has strong ties to the Eagles and each has never been a coordinator. Four of the Jags’ first six games are on the road, including a Week 4 visit to Philadelphia.

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20. Caesars’ leading odds for coach of the year: Brandon Staley (13-1), Pederson, Kyle Shanahan, Kevin O’Connell, Mike Vrabel, Nathaniel Hackett, and Sean McVay all at 15-1. Nick Sirianni is 18-1.

21. Glendale, Ariz., will host the Super Bowl for the first time since Pete Carroll’s infamous decision not to give Marshawn Lynch the ball on the goal line at the end of Super Bowl 49. Las Vegas and New Orleans host Super Bowls 58 and 59, respectively.

22. New for this season: Each team gets a possession in overtime in playoff games. Previously, if Team A scored a touchdown on its first drive, the game ended and Team B never got the ball. Allen and the Bills were Team B last year in a playoff loss in Kansas City, which led to a real pain in the A for Roger Goodell and the NFL.

23. In 17 of the last 19 years, at least one team has won its division after finishing in last place the previous season. Of the eight teams to finish last in 2021, Baltimore would seem best equipped to turn it around. The other seven are the N.Y. Giants, Detroit, Carolina, Seattle, N.Y. Jets, Jacksonville, and Denver.

24. DraftKings’ top odds for comeback player of the year: Derrick Henry (4-1), Brian Robinson Jr. (9-2), Jameis Winston (11-2), Christian McCaffrey (15-2), Baker Mayfield (8-1), Michael Thomas (8-1).

25. Baltimore running back J.K. Dobbins is trying to come back from a serious knee injury and was incensed when the NFL Network said he was “no sure thing for Week 1.” Dobbins responded, “I’m damn sure going to be ready for Week 1.” He’s listed at 16-1 for comeback player of the year.

26. The offshore shops generally have Carolina’s Matt Rhule (3-1) as the favorite to be the first coach fired. Mike McCarthy (9-2) , Carroll (6-1), and Frank Reich (7-1) are next. Sirianni’s way down the list at about 25-1.

27. The Carolina running back McCaffrey has missed 23 of 33 possible games the last two years. Last season, the Panthers were 4-3 with him in the lineup, 1-9 without him.

28. There are 10 new head coaches and the Eagles face six of them.

29. One of the new coaches they do not face is Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles, the Temple alum who had previously been the head coach for Miami (interim, 2-1) and the Jets (24-40). His quarterbacks with the Jets were Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, and Sam Darnold. His QB with the Bucs will be Brady.

» READ MORE: Eagles now betting favorites to win NFC East

30. Many bookies are still salty after being caught flat-footed in March when Brady suddenly announced he was coming out of retirement. Shortly before Brady’s announcement, some bettors jumped on the Buccaneers as high as 50-1 to win the Super Bowl. Today, they are around 7-1. Without Brady, the Buccaneers were long shots. With him, they are among the favorites.

31. If you throw in the postseason, Brady is 2,431 yards shy of 100,000 passing yards for his career. That’s the baseball equivalent of 1,000 career home runs.

32. Lansdale Catholic alum Joe Judge, who was fired after two seasons as Giants head coach, is back with Bill Belichick and the Patriots as an offensive assistant.

33. The Colts have lost eight consecutive season openers, and Matt Ryan will be their sixth quarterback to start in Week 1 in the last six years. Going backward chronologically, they’ve used Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, Andrew Luck, and Scott Tolzien. The Colts open Sunday at Houston, where they are favored by more than a touchdown.

34. But the Browns tell the Colts to hold their beer. They haven’t won a season opener since 2004, going 0-16-1 in that span. Cleveland is at Carolina on Sunday, and Brissett will start in place of Deshaun Watson, who is suspended for 12 weeks.

35. The first game Watson will be eligible is Dec. 4 at Houston, his former team. Good luck to Prep alum and Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski with this drama.

36. One final bow on Cooper Kupp’s historic 2021 season: He was targeted 191 times — that’s better than 31% of Matthew Stafford’s pass attempts. Kupp’s 145 receptions equate to an incredible 75.9% catch rate. DraftKings’ line for Kupp’s receptions this year is 111.5.

37. Running back Tarik Cohen was named by teammates as Chicago’s most inspirational player in February for his dogged attempts to return from a devastating knee injury in 2020. In March, he was cut and remains out of football.

38. The 49ers gave up three first-round picks and a third-rounder in 2021 to move up from 12th to third so they could draft North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance. They’re all-in on Lance and got stuck with incumbent Jimmy Garoppolo, who signed a one-year deal at the end of camp.

39. Garoppolo will get $6.5 million guaranteed with a $14 million salary-cap hit to San Francisco to serve as Lance’s backup. (He reworked his deal and actually saved the Niners about $13 mil in cap space.) The salary-cap hits for other notable No. 2 quarterbacks around the league: Joe Flacco, Jets, $3.39 million; Jordan Love, Packers, $3.38 million; Nick Foles, Colts, $2.6 million; Gardner Minshew, Eagles, $2.54 million; Andy Dalton, Saints, $3 million; Chad Henne, Chiefs, $2 million.

40. Brock Purdy, former Iowa State quarterback and this year’s Mr. Irrelevant as the 262nd and final draft pick, surprisingly made the 49ers roster. Former Eagle Nate Sudfeld was released but picked up by Detroit. This ends the QB scrubs portion of this report.

41. Incidentally, that No. 12 pick in 2021 originally owned by San Francisco briefly passed through the Eagles’ hands before Dallas ended up with it. That’s where the Cowboys got Micah Parsons, last year’s defensive rookie of the year.

42. Top odds for defensive player of the year according to DraftKings: T.J. Watt (7-1), Myles Garrett (7-1), Aaron Donald (8-1), Micah Parsons (19-2), Nick Bosa (15-1), Joey Bosa (20-1). Eagles Haason Reddick and Fletcher Cox are 150-1.

43. There’s a decent chance Atlanta’s top two receivers, at least at the start, will be tight end Kyle Pitts (Archbishop Wood) and wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus (St. Joe’s Prep). The Falcons used the eighth overall pick on USC wideout Drake London, but he missed the last half of training camp with a knee injury.

44. The Steelers have never had a losing season in Mike Tomlin’s first 15 campaigns, but they’re at a crossroads in 2022 with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. Veteran Mitch Trubisky, with his third team in three years, is one of the offensive captains.

45. Pittsburgh plays Cincinnati, New England, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Miami, and the Eagles within the first eight weeks. Going 4-4 in that stretch would be admirable.

46. FanDuel’s top odds for offensive rookie of the year: Kenny Pickett (9-1), George Pickens (9-1), Dameone Pearce (11-1), Chris Olave (11-1). For defensive rookie of the year, Aidan Hutchinson (9-2), Kayvon Thibodeaux (8-1), Kyle Hamilton (10-1), and No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker (12-1) are at the top of the board.

47. Fifteen previous defensive players have been selected No. 1 overall. None of them went on to win defensive rookie of the year. That list includes former No. 1s Lee Roy Selmon, Bruce Smith, Jadeveon Clowney, and Myles Garrett.

48. The messy divorce between Russell Wilson and the Seahawks will be in the spotlight on Monday night with Denver visiting Seattle in Week 1. Wilson was 57-21 at home in his 10 seasons with the Seahawks.

49. One of Wilson’s weapons will be former Penn State star KJ Hamler, who ripped up his knee in Week 3 last season. But that was only part of the story. He also lost his grandmother, whom Hamler described as his best friend.

50. “I won’t say I’m out of that dark place, but I’m getting better, I can tell you that,” Hamler told the Denver Post during training camp. “Now that I’m back on the field and now that I’m around all the guys and I’m being able to do a little bit of what I was able to do before — it’s been uplifting my spirits.”

All odds are as of Monday.