NFL schedule release day is upon us. Now more than ever, that means it’s time for every NFL social media duking it out for our attention and praise.
The day has quickly become the social media Super Bowl for NFL teams, with increasingly high production values and concepts rising from trendy to esoteric. After a bumper crop last year, Thursday more than delivered, even if there were a few missteps along the way.
For starters, we had multiple teams each do a video built around artificial intelligence (Washington Commanders, Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers), TikTok (Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons) and Arian Foster’s claim the NFL is scripted (New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars). None of those videos made the top here, nor did ideas like “Lamar Jackson talking to a camera with hype music” or “Kyler Murray playing catch.”
Some teams, however, went above and beyond. Here are our 10 favorites from around the NFL, with honorable mention to the Dallas Cowboys’ Yellowstone fanfest.
10. New York Jets
This was an awesome idea, but we’re not sure about the execution (sounds about right with the Jets).
The Jets collaborated with Trevor Rainbolt, a pro GeoGuessr player whose videos will convince you he has a superpower. GeoGuessr is a game that has seen increased prominence in the last few years in which you use your surroundings on Google Street View to figure out your location. In Rainbolt’s videos, that means stuff like seeing a telephone pole and immediately knowing you’re in Malaysia.
Rainbolt figuring out the Jets schedule with GeoGuessr prompts would have been an elite video … had we been able to see the prompts. Instead, it’s down here, but that’s no reason to be ashamed.
9. Minnesota Vikings
Who doesn’t love a good one-take drone video? There’s not much to add here, just a solid video all around.
8. New England Patriots
It shouldn’t surprise you the Patriots would rather talk about their former players than the roster on tap for this year, but Devin McCourty does a good job here and it’s nice to see Tom Brady coming home.
7. Denver Broncos
Who doesn’t love “The Office”? People who are no longer living in 2009.
We kid. This is a perfectly fine, if a little dated, effort featuring “Office” cast member Angela Kinsey with cameos from Kate Flannery and Creed Bratton. Congratulations to whichever Office fan on the team finally got their way this year.
6. Indianapolis Colts
There is nothing wrong with a simple video with two guys sitting at a table, as long as they do something fun. The Colts’ food guessing game, featuring DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, certainly qualifies.
5. Buffalo Bills
The Bills were responsible for last year’s weirdest (but not worst) videoand this one is a fun follow-up with some of the best player acting work in the league.
4. Chicago Bears
“The Bear” is excellent television and the Bears deserve full credit for taking advantage of the award-winning show that takes place in their city. It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s local and it doesn’t overstay its welcome like some other videos (the Colts’ alone weighs in at nine-and-a-half minutes). Excellent work.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
You can expect at least a few teams to go meta every year, but the difference here is that the Steelers actually did a good job with this snappy 50s-style school film featuring tight end Zach Gentry. Extra credit for calling out the multiple artificial intelligence videos, but we have to dock points for being a “just throw the schedule in at the end” video.
2. Tennessee Titans
This video was so good, you have to wonder why the Titans bothered making another one, featuring Keith Urban.
The North Carolina Tigers, the Boston Bobcats, the Red Stallions, Chester Cheeto, and Lightning McQueen. Just incredible stuff.
1. Los Angeles Chargers
Hoo boy.
Look, we didn’t want to reward the Chargers for recycling the idea from last year’s league-best video, but the key thing here is that the NFL’s top social media team kept things fresh.
And by fresh, we mean a complete Howitzer of disrespect, featuring jokes about the Lions’ gambling suspensions, the Cowboys’ social media team throwing Dak Prescott under the bus and the Bills’ Super Bowl struggles.
Will this win any awards for innovation? No. Did this video have the breakneck pace of last year? No. Has the Chargers’ on-field success justified their social team’s haymakers? No. And yet, the Chargers once again delivered on exactly what a schedule release video should be, and they still do it better than anyone.
We’ll see how it plays out next year. Hopefully, the Chargers have a new idea by then.