Breathe it in: it’s the eve of a new season. Tomorrow, the professional tier of the greatest game on earth will begin it’s latest iteration.

That means that 18 weeks from now, a champion will receive their football-shaped bottle of whiskey. Who will be that champion?

ESPN has ranked our teams based on the talent we snagged in the draft. Here are those rankings:

But what does ESPN know? So much uncertainty stands between us and the end of the season. Injuries are little explosions of randomness that can change the entire season in an instant.

But there are bits of uncertainty that are less random than injuries: decisions by GMs, coaches, coordinators, or players that might or might not have monumental impacts on their output this season. I read a lot of ESPN articles, and decided to pool together some of my learning as a primer for storylines to watch as we obsess over our final rosters this week.

Potential Committee Rooms
A committee room (or just “committee”) is when you have depth at a roster position that allows you to spread the load across several athletes. In real life, a committee is a great thing—every coach wants tons of talent to choose from on each play. In Fantasy Football, it can be a death sentence. Your Number 1 Draft Pick is less valuable if he’s sharing snap counts and receptions with someone else’s Number 1 Draft Pick. Committees aren’t necessarily the end of the world, but it makes the week-to-week starting roster decision far more complex.

What are some of the committees around the league that we’re keeping an eye on?

• Cincy RBs – Mixon moved to Texas, opening the way for Zach Moss (Josh), Chase Brown, and Trayveon Williams to compete for touches. You might even see several of these guys in one play, given the Bengal’s tendency to throw to their backs.
• Denver RBs – Sean Payton has promised to help out baby Bo with a heavier focus on the run, giving volume to the committee of Javonte Williams (Zac), Jaleel McLaughlin, and Audric Estime (Veronicca). Will it be another disappointing year for Denver backs?
• Washington RBs – Brian Robinson Jr (Zac) established himself as the leader of the RB room in Washington, but he now has the veteran Austin Ekeler (Josh) behind him trying to prove that he’s still a master of his craft.
• Steelers RBs – Another year, another crowded Steelers backfield. That means shared Fantasy points for Jaylen Warren (Blake), Najee Harris (Jean), and Cordarrelle Patterson.
• Tennessee RBs – Faced with the talented duo of Tony Pollard (Jean) and Tyjae Spears (Chelsea), Tennessee has promised to go with the mysterious “hot hand” approach. Whoever looks best in practice will get the lion’s share of that weekend’s touches. It’ll probably be Pollard most weeks, but the roulette wheel of hot hand will pull the rug out from under him unpredictably.
• Bears WRs – Wow. Just wow. What a group of legends. The Bears have invested in DJ Moore (Zac) forthe long term, but Caleb Williams will also be able to target 6-time pro-bowler Keenan Allen (Joe) and first-round rookie Rome Odunze (Blake). This offense should be legit, but the Fantasy points will slosh around the roster, settling into the seams of the opposing defense with minimal predictability.
• Chiefs WRs – Patrick Mahomes & Andy Reid are famous for spreading the love deep into the roster, and the situation is even worse with Kelce running routes as well. Rashee Rice (Zac) is supposed to be the go-to, but Xavier Worthy (Blake) and Marquis Brown will be vying for their place in the checkdown.
• Packers WRs – A young, promising corps of receivers. Love loves Romeo Doubs, but Matt LaFleur is a master tactician with many, many options. There’s swiss army knife Jayden Reed (Joe), deep threat Christian Watson (Blake), and regularly-open Dontayvion Wicks (Blake). Who will get into the endzone? Probably all of them, which isn’t a winning recipe for Fantasy GMs.
• Seattle WRs – You can always expect solid performances from Seattle, but you can’t always expect where the points will come from. Pete Carroll is an asshole, but he’s very, very good at finding the weakness in his opponent’s secondary. The player he uses to attack that weakness changes from week to week. That leaves DK Metcalf (Jean), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Veronicca), and the waning Tyler Lockett in a scheme-dependent Fantasy situation.
• Houston WRs – Similar story to Chicago and Green Bay: an overpowered WR group that will work wonders for CJ Stroud, but might leave the individual receivers with fewer points than their GMs would like. League Diva Stefon Diggs (Veronicca) will battle Nico Collins (Zac) and Tank Dell (Blake) for green space. Any play could be a big play for Houston, which means a rotating roster of big performances that might be next to impossible to predict.

Back from Injury
Injuries are case-by-case situations. Coming back from a season-ending injury is hard to judge. Will that player be back to 100% of their former bad self in Week 1? Will it take time? Will they ever get back to who they once were? Here are some of the players for whom these questions ring heavy.

• Joe Burrow (Josh) – 2022 ACL, calf
• Aaron Rodgers (Chelsea) – Achilles
• Mark Andrews (Chelsea) – ankle
• Tank Dell (Blake) – gunshot(!)

Ugly Offseason Contract Negotiation
Football is a game. Football is a business. Some players choose to hold out for what they perceive their value to be. Sometimes this involves public statements of frustration, acts of sabotage, and even fines. Will the OC’s be able to let loose on their expensive contracts, or will bad blood bleed into the season?

• Brandon Aiyuk (Veronicca): after a protracted & public exchange of unpleasantries, Aiyuk and SF agreed to a 4 year, $120M contract. Even Brandon said he probably went too far during the negotiations. He might not be on the best terms with the folks in San Francisco.
• CeeDee Lamb (Kayla): missed training camp during his public spat with Jerry Jones, but finally agreed to a 4 year, $136M contract.
• Ja’Marr Chase (Joe): still no contract, and the season starts this weekend. He skipped camp and the entire preseason. The question everyone is asking: will he play? He showed up to practice for the first time today (9/4), but this situation is still noticeably unresolved.
• Alvin Kamara (Veronicca): ever the gentleman, Kamara didn’t skip camp to make a point. But as his season begins still without a contract, will his growing disappointment cause his performance to suffer?

New Team, Last Chance
It’s hard to be good in the league. It’s harder to stay good for a whole career. It’s hardest to do all of that on one team. Some teams let go of their superstars, but why? Is it salary cap bullshit? Did they see the drop-off coming? For these stars who won’t be retiring with the franchise that drafted them, will this be the next step to the Hall of Fame or the beginning of the end?

• Josh Jacobs (Josh) – 5 years and 6,993 all purpose yards with the Raiders, now headed to Green Bay for 4 years and $48M.
• Aaron Jones (Joe) – 7 years and 8,016 all purpose yards with the Packers, finding himself on a 1 year contract with division rival Vikings.
• Austin Ekeler (Josh) – 7 years & 8,239 all purpose yards with the Chargers, now sporting the burgandy & gold of Washington.
• Saquon Barkley (Blake) – 6 years and 7,311 all purpose yards with the Giants, now joining Jalen in the Eagles’ backfield.