As art imitates life, it was always going to be inevitable that the film industry would descend on the NFL – America’s favourite pastime and the country’s biggest sports business market. Be it featuring the game in some way in a fictional movie or producing true NFL stories that shed light on various aspects of the game, controversies, NFL players, and much, much more, there’s quite a lot of content that involves the NFL.
NFL is the most popular sports league in the United States and its appeal is expanding globally with each passing year, especially recently on the back of the NFL’s mandate to develop its brand in markets beyond its border which has seen a number of games scheduled in the United Kingdom and Mexico during each season.
Chucking fictional football movies aside, there’s a growing library of football documentaries that are worth looking at and that’s the focus of this piece. We highlight seven documentaries that are either NFL-centric or involve NFL players that you should spot – if you haven’t already.
1. League of Denial
The PBS documentary ‘League of Denial’ focuses on concussions, the relationship between football and concussions and how the NFL ignored the problem, which raised a lot of controversy for the league. The NFL was found out to be ignoring the issue of concussions and not providing sufficient protection for its players, which didn’t provide good optics for the league. A lot of work went into changing the rules and protocols surrounding concussions to better protect players and ultimately the integrity of the game, all of which is covered by this very educational and illuminating documentary.
2. Elway to Marino
Elway and Marino documentary explores the 1983 NFL draft, which was particularly noteworthy for the six quarterbacks that came off the board in the first round, including Hall of Famers John Elway and Dan Marino. Diehard NFL fans with a longstanding love for the game will relish this throwback documentary that looks at the game and the discovery of two of its greatest quarterbacks that played before the 21st century. It was a different era then. A time when the game was grittier and more unforgiving and viewers often had no idea how much time was left in the game as it was a period when the NFL scoreboard and clock weren’t mandatory on the screen.
3. A Football Life: Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick is without a doubt one of the best football coaches in today’s game. His life and career have been covered by numerous books and documentaries, but NFL Network’s Football Life two-part documentary is probably one of the best takes on the no-nonsense football coach that led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles.
4. The Tilman Story
The Tilman Story is a fascinating documentary about the death of an NFL player turned U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tilman, who walked away from a potentially lucrative NFL career to answer the call of duty in the aftermath of 911. Tilman ultimately gave his life in service to his country but his death in Afghanistan was shrouded in coverup, secrecy and intrigue. The documentary looks at his life, his service and death in an attempt to uncover the truth.
5. Killer inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
How Aaron Hernandez went from an NFL player with a bright future ahead of him to a convicted killer locked up is the subject of this Netflix documentary, Interviews with friends, players and various insiders piece together this tragic story that epitomises Hernandez’s fall from grace.
6. Vick
Love him or hate him, Michael Vick is undoubtedly one of the most polarising NFL players in recent memory. So, it’s no surprise that the “30 and 30” series did a two-part documentary on his career starting with his college years and culminating with his NFL career that was marked with controversy and public censure. Most notably, for the dog-fighting scandal and conviction that made saw him become the NFL’s persona non grata for a period.
7. OJ, Made in America
O.J, Simpson is arguably one of the most recognisable names in the game worldwide, but not for the right reasons. The former NFL player lurched from one controversy to another since retiring his cleats and it’s no surprise that he became the subject of a five-part documentary for ESPN Films and their 30 for 30 series in 2016. The documentary even made the shortlist of a number of film industry nominations, including an Academy Award nomination in 2017 which it actually won. In fact, it won both of its major nominations that year, the other was the 2017 Directors Guild of America.