Worried about Oline

Actually with the amount of marketing and exposure the NFL does now with the emphasis on European and Mexican exposure and the fact it is on how many nights a week now with a longer season as well. Not to mention you have the crossover audience of Swifty’s and many more platforms by which the NFL is exposed through social media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and the fact players engage directly with fans more you would think it would be significantly higher than it was ten years ago. Don’t forget the NFL is spending a lot more promoting their product than they were ten years ago. Between the nfl Draft being a national event and the Super Bowl a National Holiday and it being on tons of different tv networks and nearly covered now year around it is surprising the viewership has remained relatively flat.

I predict they are going to lose more viewership or the hard core fans will migrate towards something more authentic overtime as the quality of the product gets watered down through over the top safety measures, the players becoming more entitled and oversaturation with a longer season and on more nights a week. It’s bad enough they are trying to legislate defense out of the game in an effort to protect the QB’s and WR’s and promote more scoring but the quality of the game is vastly underwhelming compared to years ago.

Look what happened to boxing. Nobody thought it would crater like it did. Now it crumbled for different reasons but The UFC has replaced boxing and for good reason. It’s more authentic. When a YouTuber fighting old men beyond your prime is your biggest draw in boxing you know it’s a sport beyond its decline. Perhaps Rugby or Hockey will start drawing larger viewership in the future to capture the more hardcore viewers of the old NFL as the common day nfl continues to cater to the more casual fan who doesn’t recognize the watered version of once what was.

When football starts to resemble a fast break in basketball with pads on you know the sport has changed. These guys barely even were pads anymore.

If you look at the graph the 2010’s might have been the peak. It was consistently in the 17 million range hitting 18 million once. The last decade it started to kreep down and just recently started to go back up. I think they started to lose viewership of the more hardcore viewers after the 2010’s as people got sick of the authenticity of the game being watered down. Now you have a new generation being brought up on a different game and I think there is heavy mark-eating to that younger generation through fantasy football, TikTok etc. so even though it has rebounded it has rebounded with a lot more money spent on promoting the product. Also you didn’t have legalized gambling on the nfl ten years ago. Now you do. A lot of people watch the games solely for that reason.
The nfl recognized they were losing viewership because the quality of the product wasn’t as authentic as it used to be. So they legalized gambling, promoted the heck out of fantasy football (gateway to gambling for the youngsters) and promoted to new markets ie Europe and the TikTok generation. There is a reason they zoom in on Swift at every KC game.

There is only so much you can squeeze out of a lemon. The viewership may have rebounded but that doesn’t mean the quality of the nfl play hasn’t gotten worse. If they continue to water the product down or oversaturate it it’s going to go the way of the mlb with only the casual fan and a few hard core hang on’s showing interest in it. We here in this forum are the hard core hang on’s.

The other issue is the NFL has ventured into wokeness and Politics. They better be careful that can be the fastest way to a brands demise. I for one miss the beer commercials and car commercials (if I’m forced to watch a commercial) as opposed to watching an hour of political adds and drug commercials while maybe seeing 30 minutes of literal action while watching a game.

The mlb has gotten to the point they have to do all kinds of gimmicky stuff just to get people to attend a game unless your the few marquee franchises. Let’s hope the nfl doesn’t get to that point.

 

I actually think you make a lot of good points, but there are few outlets for that "authentic" sport. Basketball is completely cooked as it is borderline unwatchable. Its product has gotten watered down even worse than NFL. Baseball declined heavily and isn't exciting enough to make a comeback. Hockey is a natural outlet, but even then die hard hockey fans feel the same way about the NHL as we do about the NFL where they have a lot more safety measures for hitting and have tried to make fighting a thing of the past. Americans can never really get into soccer, and all of its best athletes play other sports over it... so that isn't an option either. Even at a watered down level, the NFL is still the top product on the market. It still has a hard salary cap so there is parity in the league, it is a fast paced and exciting game, it still has all the top athletes competing for a spot in the league, and money keeps getting pushed into the league. I'm sure there will be a time where people get fed up with the rules changes, but it is still the most physical game to watch that isn't a combat sport.

I think the biggest threat to the NFL is how kids today are drawn more towards gaming and PC etc, and aren't as much into sports or doing things outdoors. If they can find a way to keep the engagement with the young folks (which they are obviously shooting for with different streaming options and shows catered towards younger people (Pat McAfee, etc.)), I think the NFL has a very high viewership floor and will continue to grow, even if it is at a smallish rate.

 

This is Rodgers who decide if he play in the preseason or not!

 

You make valid points. I actually went back and added to my post before I saw your response covering some of what you talk about. My opinion however is different in that I think they have to spend a lot more now to keep viewership up to overcompensate for the reduced quality of the game and the lack of authenticity. In terms of quality of play I think the NFL was at its peak in the early 2000’s it was competitive, exciting but still hard nosed. It definitely has changed. The nfl has focused on marketing to the younger generation, women and internationally. Perhaps that will be enough to sustain it overtime and promote growth because those folks don’t know the difference. But if something more authentic comes out who knows over time it could put a dent in it.

it could never be another league because you can’t compete with the nfl they are way too massive. It would literally have to be something like Rugby which is more authentic and some internal corruption within the nfl to be exposed to see its demise quickly.

 

What was your reason for that post?

 

Gambling will drive the future growth of the NFL. According to AI gambling on NFL games reached $35B in 2024. Meanwhile, ticket sales were $24B.
Future games might be played in front of virtual audiences. Talk about disconnect.

 

Honestly I believe it eventually will be legislated even more because of wokeness, safety and politics. I can see it eventually being more of a hybrid of flag and tackle. No helmets or pads. 3 down lineman and no rb’s or ilb’s. More just Wr’s and Db’s and a QB. I could see it eventually migrating to more of a digital experience with avatars and almost a hybrid of a video game and an actual game.

if people want the authenticity something more raw like rugby will replace with football.

 

You lost me at the Boxing, and UFC stuff, and I quit reading.

 

to simply state the logic of JAX's coaching staff had a reason, but we can question that reason, that "LOGIC" - all day long.

he is their FRANCHISE. No reason for him to take reps IMO on Sat. He has 2 other weeks (games) to get ready.

Lawrence is a proven veteran in this league at this point.

someone here questioned the reason and I agreed that the reason was "dummy".

 

That’s a of words

 

Did Jones play well on Saturday? Read some reports that he held his own, the starting unit in general seem to have decent outing, is that correct?

 

He actually did play pretty well against a good first team defender on passing plays

None of the line played well on running plays

 

He did better than FatTuna who was raked over the coals by PFF for his outing.

 

Could be the coaches at Jacksonville are dummies.
Could be Trevor took a vicious hit that ended his season last year and they wanted to get him in on some live fire football to see how he would respond. He's still only 25yrs old.
Could be other reasons.


You seem to think you know better than they, so for now we will go with, they are dummies. Big dummies!

 

Boxing hasn’t been popular in quite some time. To corrupt. Money seeks corruption. I fear that for the NFL as in their priority is more about profit than it is the integrity of the product.

 

I’m a fast typer.

 

I would send email to one of my older employees and he would call me back with the answer

I asked him why he didn’t just reply to the email

He sheepishly told me he only types with one finger

I laughed and told him I only use one finger

That’s why I send short emails with short sentences

 

Haha I usually use three fingers but kind of hard to do on the iPhone. That’s why I misspell so many words. Fat fingers and going to fast.

 

ALOHA

 

OK

 

Ok

 

It's a rookie HC. Almost all rookie HC play their starters, until something bad happens.
Lot of people forget, but Tomlins 1st year , the players complained that he worked them too hard in the preseason, and that's why they faded in the playoffs against Jacksonville, they said they were worn-out, and the next year he went easier on them during preseason , and they won a SB.

 

Not popular to you, funny the money they are still making on PPV, and every time I watch , the seats are completely filled. Hell small pro fights are full state to state. Just because You don't watch doesn't mean others don't. I suggest next time it's on ESPN....look at how full the seats are, and they won't even be boxers you know.

 

25 carries for 66 yards and NO TDS. 2.64 yards per carry.

How is this a good thing in your book?

 

LOL... Is this how you stop Travis Hunter from playing both ways?

A snap count would probably mean an increase in the active roster, as you would no longer play your starters on special teams. I think Cam plays on the FG unit. 59 Snaps on Special teams last year.