NFL 2019: 100 things to know 100 days out from the start of the 100th season
The Bears and Packers will kick off the NFL's 100th season; that plus 99 other things to know
by Jared Dubin
top ten
The 2019 season kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 5, at 8:20 p.m. ET, with the Chicago Bears hosting the Green Bay Packers.
The defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will not play the first game of the season, as Super Bowl winners have in recent years, but will instead debut on "Sunday Night Football," where they'll take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Patriots will not have Rob Gronkowski on their side, as Gronk retired after nine NFL seasons.
Drew Brees is 20 touchdown passes away from breaking Peyton Manning's all-time record.
Tom Brady is 23 touchdown passes away from breaking the same record.
After spending the past five seasons with Washington and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DeSean Jackson is back with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The three non-Patriots teams in the AFC East (Jets, Bills, Dolphins) all have quarterbacks (Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen) who were selected in the top 10 of the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Jets (Adam Gase) and Dolphins (Brian Flores) are also among the eight teams that have first-year head coaches. The others are the Cardinals (Kliff Kingsbury), Bengals (Zac Taylor), Browns (Freddie Kitchens), Broncos (Vic Fangio), Packers (Matt LaFleur), and Buccaneers (Bruce Arians).
Speaking of which ... Bruce Arians is back! Arians retired last offseason and spent the 2018 campaign broadcasting games, but now he's back in the league with Tampa Bay.
Also returning after just a single year in the broadcast booth: Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who un-retired and will play his 16th season with Dallas.