The NFL is back: everything to watch as the 107th season kicks off, from Mahomes return to the Super Bowl race

I write about football and sport in all its forms, from the drama on the field to the money and politics behind the scoreline, and few moments on the calendar excite me like the return of the NFL. After a long summer of speculation, the league is finally back for its 107th season, and I want to walk you through everything worth watching as the action gets under way.

There is a particular energy to the first week of an NFL season that I find impossible to resist, because for a few days every single team can still dream. The slate has been wiped clean, last year’s disappointments are forgotten, and thirty-two fan bases genuinely believe, however briefly, that this could finally be the year their team lifts the famous trophy in February.

A champion opens the show

As tradition dictates, the season roars to life with a primetime kickoff game hosted by the reigning champions, and this year that honour falls to the Seattle Seahawks. On Wednesday the ninth of September, they will welcome the New England Patriots to a raucous Lumen Field, giving their supporters a first chance to celebrate last season’s title before the hard work of defending it truly begins.

That opener is quickly followed by another mouthwatering fixture to round out the first week of the campaign. The Kansas City Chiefs travel to face the Denver Broncos on the fourteenth of September in the season premiere of Monday Night Football, a divisional clash that always crackles with tension and that carries an extra layer of intrigue this time around.

For me, these opening showcases are far more than mere entertainment, because they set the emotional tone for the months to come. A statement win under the lights can galvanise a franchise for an entire year, while a flat, error-strewn defeat can plant seeds of doubt that prove surprisingly hard to shake off once the pressure begins to mount.

The Mahomes question hangs over everything

If there is one storyline that towers above all others as this season begins, it is the health of Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, and I will be watching him closely. The three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, who has also twice been named the league’s overall MVP, suffered a serious blow last year when he tore both the ACL and LCL in his knee during Week 15.

An injury of that severity would end many careers, or at the very least permanently diminish a player, yet Mahomes is no ordinary athlete by any measure. The great unknown is whether he can return to the fearless, improvisational brilliance that has defined his era, or whether the memory of the injury will subtly clip the wings of the most creative quarterback of his generation.

How he responds will shape not only Kansas City’s season but the balance of power across the entire league, such is his gravitational pull. A fully fit Mahomes instantly makes the Chiefs contenders again, while any lingering hesitation could crack open the door for a whole host of ambitious rivals who have spent years chasing his shadow in vain.

A wide-open race for the title

Beyond Kansas City, this feels like an unusually open season, with a cluster of genuinely elite teams all believing their moment has arrived. Alongside the Chiefs, franchises such as the Philadelphia Eagles, the Baltimore Ravens, the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers are widely regarded as the strongest contenders, each blessed with the kind of roster that can go all the way.

What I love about this depth is that it promises a season with no easy nights and precious few guaranteed outcomes. When five or six teams are all operating at the highest level, every marquee matchup becomes a potential playoff preview, and the margins between glory and heartbreak shrink to the width of a single dropped pass or a missed field goal.

All of this builds towards the grand finale, Super Bowl LXI, which is scheduled for Sunday the fourteenth of February at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It will mark the ninth time the league’s showpiece has been staged in the Los Angeles area, and staging it on Valentine’s Day feels almost poetic for a sport that inspires such passionate, unconditional devotion.

Why I cannot wait

For all the statistics, the odds and the endless expert predictions, what draws me back every year is the human drama at the heart of it all. The NFL is a theatre of redemption and heartbreak, where careers are made in an instant and legacies are decided under unimaginable pressure, and that is a story I will never tire of telling.

So as the 107th season gets under way, I will be here to follow every twist, from the surprise upsets of September to the frozen drama of January and the glitz of that February final in Los Angeles. Buckle up, because if the opening fixtures are anything to go by, this promises to be a season of football we will be talking about for a very long time.