The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games.[1] The regular season started on September 9, 2021, with defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay defeating Dallas in the NFL Kickoff Game. The regular season ended on January 9, 2022. The playoffs started on January 15 and concluded with Super Bowl LVI, the league's championship game, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on February 13, with the Los Angeles Rams defeating Cincinnati.
The 2021 NFL league year and trading period began on March 17. On March 15, teams were allowed to exercise options for 2021 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2020 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "top 51" definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 17, clubs were allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with players whose contracts had expired and thus became unrestricted free agents.
Free agency began on March 17. Notable players to change teams included:
The following notable trades were made during the 2021 league year:
Notable retirements
Other retirements
The 2021 NFL draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1.[99] Jacksonville, by virtue of having the worst record in 2020, held the first overall selection and selected QB Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson.[100]
The NFL hired Maia Chaka as its second female official (joining Sarah Thomas) and first African-American female official.[101]
NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Alberto Riveron retired, leaving two other senior vice presidents, Walt Anderson and Perry Fewell, to co-head the NFL's officiating department.[102][103] Without Riveron, multiple people in the officiating department will be making the final decisions over replay reviews instead of a single person.[104]
Replay official Carl Madsen died on October 24. He was in his 12th season as a replay official, after an extended career as an on-field official.[105]
The following officials were hired:
The following rule changes were approved at the NFL Owner's Meeting on April 21:[106]
The league introduced COVID-19 protocols intended to encourage vaccination among players, coaches, and staff. On July 22, the NFL sent a memo warning teams that if a game that had been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks among unvaccinated players could not be rescheduled within the 18-week season schedule, the team responsible for the outbreak would be charged with a loss by forfeit, and be responsible for financial compensation to the other team, since teams typically do not get paid for cancelled games.[112] On July 24, it was reported that the league will fine players $14,650 for each violation of COVID-19 protocol if they are unvaccinated.[113]
On July 23, the league announced the following temporary rules for 2020 would remain in place for 2021, allowing roster flexibility due to uncertainty regarding the pandemic.
On August 30, the league and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) agreed to COVID testing protocols for the season. Fully vaccinated players were tested at least once per week and could opt for additional testing. Like in 2020, unvaccinated players were tested every day during the regular season and postseason except game days.[115]
Training camps were held from late July through August.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was played on August 5, as Pittsburgh defeated Dallas. The two teams were previously scheduled to play the 2020 game before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[122]
Corresponding with the expansion of the regular season to 17 games, the preseason was reduced to three games per team.[1] NFC teams each hosted two preseason games and AFC teams each hosted one.[123] There was a league-wide bye week the weekend of September 4–5, between the final preseason game and the start of the regular season.
The August 28 game between Arizona and New Orleans was canceled due to Hurricane Ida.[124] This was only the second time severe weather canceled a preseason game (a 2017 Dallas–Houston game was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey).[125]
The NFL released its regular season schedule on May 12.[126] The season was played over an 18-week schedule beginning on September 9. Each of the league's 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week for each team. The regular season concluded on January 9, 2022; all games during the final weekend were intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.
The 2020 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed by team owners and the NFLPA allowed for an expansion of the regular season from 16 to 17 games. On March 30, 2021, owners approved the expanded schedule.[1] The extra game was added to the existing scheduling formula. Each team continues to play the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, and one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions).
The added game is a fifth interconference matchup between divisions that had played each other two years earlier, based on the position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g. the team that finished fourth in its division plays a club that finished fourth in a division of the other conference). AFC teams host the extra game in odd-numbered years, including 2021, with NFC teams getting the extra home game in even-numbered years.[127][128]
The division pairings for 2021 are as follows:
Four intra-conference games AFC East vs AFC South AFC North vs AFC West NFC East vs NFC South NFC West vs NFC North
Four inter-conference games AFC East vs NFC South AFC North vs NFC North AFC South vs NFC West AFC West vs NFC East
Added game NFC East at AFC East NFC West at AFC North NFC South at AFC South NFC North at AFC West
Highlights of the 2021 season include:
This section lists games that were moved or canceled because of severe weather, COVID-19 outbreaks, by way of flexible scheduling, or for other reasons, including games that were moved to Saturday. When the entire season schedule was released on May 12, the league announced that in Weeks 15 and 18, two games would be moved to their respective Saturdays.
The 2021 playoffs began with the wild-card round, with three Wild Card games played in each conference. Wild card weekend took place from January 15–17, 2022. This marks the first time that the wild card games were played over three consecutive days. Two games were played on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday night,[143] marking the first Monday playoff game since 1988.
In the divisional round, which was played on the weekend of January 22–23, the top seed in the conference played the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams will play each other. The winners of those games advanced to the Conference Championships, which were played on January 30.[144]
Super Bowl LVI was held on February 13 at 6:30 p.m. EST on NBC at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.[144]
* Indicates OT victory
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Wild Card Round
Divisional Round
Conference Championships:
Super Bowl LVI
The 11th Annual NFL Honors, saluting the best players and plays from 2021 season, was held on February 10, 2022, at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California.
The following players were named First Team All-Pro by the Associated Press:
The following were named the top performers during the 2021 season:
Morris, the team's defensive coordinator, was previously the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with a record of 17–31 (.354) and no playoff appearances. He finished out the 2020 season with a 4–7 (.364) record.[239]
Smith served as an assistant coach for the Tennessee Titans from 2011 to 2020 and most recently served as offensive coordinator for the last two seasons; the Falcons hired Smith on January 16. This would be his first NFL head coaching job.[240]
Bevell, the team's offensive coordinator, was promoted to interim head coach. This was his first head coaching position. He finished out the 2020 season with a 1–4 (.200) record.[241]
Campbell, who had a 5–7 (.417) record as interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins for part of 2015, was hired on January 20. He previously served as the assistant head coach/tight ends coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2016 to 2020.[242]
Crennel, the team's associate head coach, was previously the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, with a combined record of 28–55 (.337) and no playoff appearances. At age 73, he became the oldest head coach in NFL history. He finished out the 2020 season with a 4–8 (.333) record.[244]
On January 29, the Texans hired Culley, whom for the last 42 years was an assistant coach for several teams, most recently for the Baltimore Ravens from 2019 to 2020. From 1999 to 2016, Culley served as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, both coached by Andy Reid. This is his first head coaching job. Culley became the oldest first-time head coach in NFL history at age 65.[245]
Meyer, an experienced college football head coach with a combined record of 187–32 (.854) with Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and Ohio State, and three national championships, was hired on January 14. This would be his first NFL coaching position.[247]
Staley was hired on January 17. He had spent the previous season as defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams. This was his first head coaching position.[249]
Saleh, who was a long-time defensive coach in the NFL and on the college level, was hired on January 14. He was most recently the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. This was his first head coaching position.[251]
Former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni was hired as Eagles' head coach on January 24. This marked Sirianni's first head coaching job.[254]
Bevell, the team's offensive coordinator since 2021, was promoted to interim head coach. This is his second head coaching position, after serving as interim head coach for the Detroit Lions in 2020, with a record of 1–4 (.200) and no playoff appearances.[255]
Bisaccia, the team's special teams coordinator and assistant head coach since 2018, was promoted to interim head coach. This is his first head coaching position after 20 years as an assistant coach in the NFL.[260]
Fontenot was hired on January 18. He spent previous 18 seasons with the New Orleans Saints organization, most recently as vice president/assistant general manager of pro personnel.[261]
Fitterer, former Seattle Seahawks' vice president of football operations, was hired on January 14. He previously served with the Seahawks for 20 seasons in various executive roles.[263]
Paton was hired on January 13. He was previously a member of the Minnesota Vikings organization since 2007. This was his first GM position.[265][266]
On January 14, Holmes was hired as new general manager and executive vice president. He spent last 18 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and named director of college scouting since 2013.[267]
Caserio was hired on January 7. He was a long-time member of the New England Patriots organization, as an offensive assistant, a scout, and their director of player personnel from 2008 to 2020.[269]
Baalke, the team's director of player personnel, would serve as interim GM through the end of the season.[270] Previously, he was the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2016. On January 21, 2021, Baalke was named permanent GM.[271]
Aided by the availability of vaccines, by June 29 all 32 NFL teams had received approval to play their games with no restrictions on attendance. This comes after all games in 2020 were played with either a greatly reduced audience or no fans at all due to local or state public health orders or by team's ownership discretion.[277] However, after a recent increase in cases due to the Delta variant, several teams implemented fan restrictions, mainly due to local or state-level public health restrictions for events being re-enacted in response to the increase. However, this purely involves requirements for masking, testing, vaccination or any combination thereof and not on attendance.
In addition, mascots, cheerleaders, and sideline reporters that were not allowed to be on the field in 2020 were allowed to return to the field for 2021.[286]
This was the eighth year under the current nine-year broadcast contracts with CBS, Fox, and NBC; and the eighth and final year under the current contract with ESPN/ABC. This included "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of the conference of the visiting team. NBC aired Sunday Night Football, the Kickoff Game, and one Thanksgiving game. ESPN's rights to Monday Night Football were modified this season, allowing ABC to simulcast select games (Weeks 1, 14, and 15), as well as a new Saturday doubleheader in Week 18.[301][302] Thursday Night Football aired on NFL Network, with Fox and Amazon Prime Video simulcasting 11 games.[303]
This was the second year that CBS and NBC aired two Wild Card games.
NBC televised Super Bowl LVI along with Telemundo Deportes which aired its first super bowl in Spanish on Broadcast Television. CBS was originally scheduled to broadcast the game under the current rotation. However, CBS traded the game to NBC in exchange for Super Bowl LV to avoid counterprogramming (as per an untold gentlemen's agreement between the networks)[304] by the 2022 Winter Olympics, as this was the first Super Bowl to be scheduled during an ongoing Olympic Games. NBC also holds the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics.[305] Due to NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics (held 2021), the network sold its broadcast rights to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game to Fox.[306]
On March 18, the NFL announced its future television deals for 2023–2033, which will see CBS, Fox, and NBC maintain their existing Sunday packages with expanded digital rights for their streaming services (Paramount+, Tubi, and Peacock, respectively). Thursday Night Football will move exclusively to Amazon. ESPN also entered into a new agreement for Monday Night Football for 2022, adding the aforementioned Week 18 Saturday doubleheader beginning this season.[301][302]
It was later announced in May that Fox and NFL Network had opted out of its final season of Thursday Night Football, so Amazon will take over TNF starting 2022.[307] NBC maintained Spanish-language rights to Sunday Night Football for Universo, while its Spanish broadcast network Telemundo would air selected games, including NBC's Wild Card games and Super Bowl LVI.[308]
On July 19, ESPN announced an agreement with Omaha Productions, the production company of Peyton Manning, to produce Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli, a supplemental telecast of Monday Night Football on ESPN2 and ESPN+ with Manning, his brother Eli, and guest celebrities for ten games each season from 2021 to 2023.[309]
For the second consecutive season, Nickelodeon simulcast a wild-card playoff game with CBS using the same youth-friendly broadcast modifications that were in place the previous season.[310] The CBS feed of the game was also streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
On October 13, the league announced that ESPN and ABC signed a five-year deal to simulcast the Monday Night wild-card playoff game, with ESPN2 and ESPN+ providing the "Peyton and Eli" broadcast.[311]
*Note – Late DH matchups listed in table are the matchups that were shown to the largest percentage of the market.
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