Netflix’s first season of Quarterback was must watch television, but with the show struggling to lock in big names for their second season, they might have to start opening it up to non-QB’s.
The show’s inaugural 8-episodes covered Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, and Atlanta’s (now Philadelphia) Marcus Mariota in the highs and lows of last year’s NFL season. “Quarterback” provided unprecedented access to the league’s biggest stars, and with it coming out in the dog days of the summer, people ate it up.
Netflix quickly gave it the green light for a season two only days after the first season premiered, and now it appears that the Peyton Manning produced docuseries is struggling to find new “main characters” for the show.
If they were to stick to the first season’s formula, they need three quarterbacks to sign on and give camera crews access to their lives both on and off the field. It appears that Mahomes, Cousins, and Mariota were more than happy to be a part of it last year, but we’re starting to find out that not every football player wants to sign up for that kind of experience.
One of the first names that said no for the second season of Quarterback was Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. His late season surge last year was more than enough to excite a potential storyline if he were to have been included in the show, but he shot down the opportunity and said he was uninterested.
This post by NFL reporter Dov Kleiman spoke about Fields’ decision to say no, and also revealed that LA Rams QB Matthew Stafford told the Quarterback producers no when they approached him for the first season:
Another name that was bouncing around as someone who fans would love to see in the second season was the young phenom quarterback out of Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts.
Those rumors can be pushed to the wayside, because Hurts made it clear that he did not want to be a part of the show (yet) and also declined to be a part of Quarterback.
During time with the media, a reporter asked Hurts if he had seen the Netflix docuseries, to which he responded that he turned down last year’s offer:
“I actually turned it down last year. I didn’t feel it was appropriate for the year, so I turned down the opportunity to be on it.
There’s a lot of the journey to be told and there’s a lot to unfold that will be told one day. That time will come.”
Dov Kleiman said in another tweet that the show’s executive producer and former Super Bowl Winning quarterback Peyton Manning had been pretty confident that finding new “leading roles” wouldn’t be difficult. The post read:
“Peyton Manning recently said a “couple of quarterbacks” passed when asked to be on the Netlix’ Quarterback show last season, and now a lot of QBs around the NFL wants to be in it.”
Hmm, I guess “a lot of QBs” is a vague term. Could it mean a lot of the backup quarterbacks are interested in bringing in some extra cash while holding a clip board on the sideline?
And even though Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa recently said that he loved the show, he also declined the offer for the second season, as did the up-and-coming Washington Commanders (name change pending) QB Sam Howell.
Just as the NFL had a hard time finding a team to be willing to do HBO’s Hard Knocks this year, it seems that not all NFL teams and players like the “all-access” aspect that comes with these sports docuseries.
It seems that Quarterback is running out of good, interesting options, and if they don’t figure out things in a hurry, we could instead be seeing a spinoff series called “NFL Super Fan,” where camera crews follow along a guy named Paul in North Dakota that likes the Packers and watches every game on his couch.
How exciting would that be…
