After a seven-month break, the NFL is back this week.
Following one of the most eventful off-seasons for Irish fans - several Gaelic footballers tested their skills in the league - the attention now shifts to the on-field action.
Michael McQuaid of Pro Football Ireland looks at some of the key storylines ahead of the new season, which gets underway tonight (1.15am Irish time) with the visit of the Baltimore Ravens to Kansas City.
Friday night lights
For the first time ever, the NFL will host a game in São Paulo, Brazil, this weekend. One of the most notable aspects is the timing - a Friday night, coinciding with many high school football games in the United States.
For millions of Brazilian fans, the chance to watch the Green Bay Packers face off against the Philadelphia Eagles is an exciting prospect.
This marquee matchup, relocated from Philadelphia, underscores the NFL's commitment to international expansion, with Ireland also likely to be on the schedule in the coming years.
The game itself promises to be a close contest, featuring a Philadelphia Eagles team that suffered a dramatic collapse late last season, against a young Green Bay Packers squad that many expect to excel in 2024.
What Aaron Rodgers will we see?
If you have dipped in and out of the league in the past decade or so, one player will have remained a constant - Aaron Rodgers.
Now at the New York Jets, a team that has found it borderline impossible to replace the icon Joe Namath, Rodgers hopes to bring a Super Bowl title to the Jets for the first time since they won their only championship in the 1968 season.
His season was cut short last year, a mere four plays into the campaign, when he suffered a torn Achilles.
One year on, Rodgers and the Jets have a considerable match-up this weekend on Monday night, taking on the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara.
A California native, Rodgers knows the spotlight is firmly on him. One of the biggest question marks this off-season is can a quarterback, who will be 41 by the time of the Super Bowl, come back from a torn Achilles?
With a year on the sidelines and plenty of time to wonder about what is next, it will be an intriguing watch, that's for sure.
Daniel Whelan’s continued growth
When Daniel Whelan signed with the Packers last year, the Wicklow native became the first Irish-born player in the league since the 1980s, when Neil O'Donoghue played for the St Louis Cardinals.
In an off-season that has seen so much focus on Irish players transferring their skills to American Football, Whelan has found a way to further focus on improving his.
He has taken barely any time off, attending different camps during the summer and during periods when he is not in the team facility, raring to go for the new season.
The Enniskerry man has put on an extra eight pounds of muscle since last season and he has received high praise from his head coach, Matt LaFleur.
"When you have a punter who's capable of pinning an opposing offense deep, that is a real weapon", he said.
The Irishman is on course to have an All-Pro season in the league and his performances in the opening weeks will be interesting to watch.
The reliance on CeeDee Lamb in Dallas
Regardless of your interest or knowledge of the NFL, there is a high chance you will have heard of the Dallas Cowboys. A world-famous organisation, they have not been victorious in the NFL in terms of a Super Bowl win since 1996. That’s a generation ago at this point. That being said, there is an expectation around the team each and every year.
One of their standout wide receivers, CeeDee Lamb, sat out most of the pre-season until he was given a huge contract extension. He did not train with the team during this period.
This would be comparable to a player refusing to train with his county ahead of the league or championship and then joining training a few days before the first game, expecting to play.
With that in mind, Lamb's fitness and movement is going to be very interesting to watch.
Dallas have a difficult game to open the season in a resurgent Cleveland Browns offense and they will need to get Lamb the ball as much as they can.
When you don’t train as much it is easier to pick up soft tissue injuries, like a hamstring pull. For Lamb, his performance this weekend will be closely monitored by many Irish fantasy team owners.
The return of Jim Harbaugh
When Jim McGuinness was originally with Donegal in the early 2010s, he was a famous face in GAA circles. When he left, there was something was missing from the game of Gaelic football. In his coaching comeback last year, he had a serious return to form.
Enter Jim Harbaugh (below). For many fans around Ireland, Harbaugh is synonymous with their entry to the NFL - taking his former San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013 and losing to his brother, John, who was (and remains) the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
Now, Jim Harbaugh is back in the NFL after winning the National Championship in College Football with Michigan last season. He is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers and inherits a young, dynamic quarterback in Justin Herbert. Will he have a Jim McGuinness-like resurgence?
This NFL season is going to be one for the ages. The current champions Kansas City Chiefs have the opportunity to do what no team has done before - to win it three times in succession. And with multiple Irish players on training squads and potentially being picked to play, it promises to be a season to remember for Irish fans.
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