Rating the best and worst NFL schedule release videos

The NFL schedule release invites teams to get creative and produce entertainment for fans. Here are the teams that thrived and faltered.

The NFL is a year-round entity, dominating headlines at every turn, even when there is no actual football being played.

The annual schedule release is a prime example of how the league turns everything into a spectacle. What once required a simple press release now involves a whole production as teams compete to drop the most creative, viral or memorable video announcing their schedule.

This year, content creators went all out, with varying degrees of success.

We’re going to start with the teams that won the schedule release because attention spans are short and these videos actually deserve to be seen.

Best NFL schedule release videos

Tennessee Titans

https://twitter.com/Titans/status/1656827454118412289?s=20

The Titans absolutely nailed this.

The schedule was the star? Check.

It wasn’t too long? Check.

It was laugh out loud funny? Check, check and check.

The Falcons even changed their name on Twitter briefly to the Red Stallions after this went viral.

Miami Dolphins

First, we’ll give the Dolphins credit for producing a video with high production value, like the Vikings “football POV” drone but without the vertigo-inducing spins.

Miami had a strong theme, they nailed the movie theater intro video vibe and they also didn’t waste time with narrative or acting, getting straight into integrating the actual schedule. The drama of the movie trailer segment was on point.

Philadelphia Eagles

Other teams had fun concepts like the Packers with their infomercial, the Bears with their line cooks, or the several teams who played around with social media scrolling. But let’s get back to basics and stop overthinking these things.

Two things make the Eagles schedule release a success: 1. It’s tight and to the point. 2. Dogs are cute and always a welcome sight.

Seattle Seahawks

https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1656848030170230784?s=20

See above, but replace dogs with children.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers committed a cardinal sin of content creation, repeating what they’d done the year before. But they got away with it.

This year’s anime video was outstanding with incredible jokes at the expense of the Chiefs-superfan-turned-robber ChiefsAholic and the Lions’ players suspended for gambling.

Indianapolis Colts

https://twitter.com/Colts/status/1656812314736181248?s=20

The Colts also committed a sin by dropping an eight-minute feature, but they’re also forgiven because it worked so damn well.

They got players involved and let them entertain with their personalities and genuine reactions instead of forcefeeding them lines to stumble over.

Most importantly, they understood that the whole point is to release the schedule. The schedule should be the star and it was, unlike the Giants’ Escape Room video, which was a good content idea in general, but felt completely removed from the schedule itself.

Unfortunately, most of the other schedule release videos weren’t up to par with those winners.

Worst NFL schedule release videos

Dallas Cowboys

Okay, Yellowstone is a great TV show but this video was SIX MINUTES LONG. The acting was terrible. The jokes weren’t funny. The exasperation of the Yellowstone creator was almost too relatable because it was actually painful to watch.

And to make it all worse, the schedule arrived a full five minutes in as an afterthought of scrolling credits.

The Cowboys owe us all that six minutes of our lives back.

Houston Texans

https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans/status/1656811449262436352?s=20

I don’t know what this is supposed to be, and at this point I’m afraid to ask.

San Francisco 49ers

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1656811768969318401?s=20

At least the rap was fully about the schedule, but it was out of order and hard to follow. Cringe.

All teams that used AI

The Steelers get an positive honorable mention for their “how to make a schedule release video” schedule release video because it called out exactly what half the league ended up doing with their schedule release videos: Using AI.

The Cardinals half-assed a 25-second schedule release video but at least it wasn’t an overwrought slog of an AI-produced concept like we saw from the Buccaneers, Commanders or Lions.

All in all, there was probably something for everyone to love in this year’s lineup of schedule release videos. Teams got creative. They put thought and effort into their offerings. That just doesn’t make them all actually entertaining. The ones that were made it all worth it.