Football is the most popular sport in the country and millions of Americans spend the majority of their weekends watching the games as the NFL season progresses. The best online betting sites keep up with all the action and many fans love to make their own predictions too.
But with NFL games only being played on three days of the week – Thursday, Sunday, and Monday – that leaves a lot of free time for football fans to fill. There are plenty of other sports to watch, of course, as well as countless highlights shows, talk shows, and podcasts to devour. But where else can a football fan get their fix?
Well, streaming sites are always there to fall back on and Netflix has recognized the sizable market for football-related movies and shows. Some of the titles on our list are well-known and have been big favorites for years. But, hopefully, you will find something that catches your eye to feed your football addiction before the weekend comes around again.
Friday Night Lights
Where else to start but with one of the most-loved football TV shows of all time? It is based on the successful movie – that was itself based on the book – following a high school football in a small Texas town. The TV series takes a fictional, rather than documentary, look at the lives of all those involved.
Running for five seasons, Friday Night Lights never grew a particularly sizable audience in the years that it originally aired. But it received a lot of praise from the critics, thanks to its deep dive into a part of America sometimes overlooked – as well as the way it produced fully rounded and complex characters.
Coach Snoop
Now for something completely different. As much as we all love the NFL – and even college football – there is nothing like watching a bunch of kids play the game coached by the one and only Snoop Dogg. The rapper shows football insight, as well as a paternal touch, to inspire the players throughout this one-season show.
The cultural icon actually set up the Snoop Youth Football League in Los Angeles in 2005 to help at-risk youths stay focused on their goals and away from the perils of modern life. He may not be the most obvious choice as a football coach but Snoop is pretty good at dishing out life lessons to those in his charge.
We Are: The Brooklyn Saints
Ron Howard was one of the executive producers for this heartwarming four-part docuseries following the coaches and players of the Brooklyn Saints youth football program in East New York. The series profiles the club as it makes it way through the 2019 season.
With devoted coaches sometimes travelling miles just to be a part of the children’s lives, this docuseries will have you cheering on the teams as they deal with issues in their immediate environment. The level of football may not be too high but this series shows some amazing people doing incredible jobs under very trying circumstances.
Colin in Black and White
Colin Kaepernick caught the attention of the world when he decided to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem before his NFL team’s games. For that, he has now been effectively blackballed from the league and is still without a team. This fictionalized limited series goes back to the days before his activism, telling the story of his teenage years.
Kaepernick himself narrates the episodes as we watch him grow as a teenager with his adoptive parents in California. As a 4.0 GPA student, Kaepernick excelled in four sports at high school but ended up concentrating on football. The series is a fascinating insight into what made the man we know today.
Last Chance U
Colin Kaepernick may have made it to the NFL but it is the dream of millions of young football players each year. But not many make it to the big league without first playing at a Division I college. Last Chance U follows the stories of those who are forced to play at Junior Community colleges in order to keep their dreams alive.
Many of the players profiled during the five seasons of the show are dealing with their own troubled lives and we get to ride along as they aim to turn those negatives into positives. Three very different programs are profiled over the five seasons and a spin-off basketball version of the show has also received many plaudits.
Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
This is a very different documentary series than those we have talked about so far. More true crime than sports, Killer Inside explores the conviction of former player Aaron Hernandez for murder, as well as some of the other offences he is suspected of committing.
The thing that makes Hernandez stand out from the usual true crime character is that he was a very successful NFL star for the New England Patriots when he committed the murder. As well as looking closely at the case, the documentary makers also shine a light on what happened in his life to cause him to throw everything away.
Untold: Swamp Kings
Untold is, as the name suggests, a documentary series that tells unique and lesser-known stories from the world of sports. First airing in 2021, the show is now in its third season and Swamp Kings is one of the latest batch of stories. It follows how the once-great University of Florida Gators came back to be a force in the NCAA.
Using exclusive interviews with former players such as Tim Tebow, as well as extensive access to controversial coach Urban Meyer, who was the one charged with turning the program around, Swamp Kings shows how the team spirit, natural talent, and off-field antics won the Gators two BCS National Championships after a period of malaise.