The NFLA Basic Overview of the National Football League

Training Goals for this Lesson

• By the end of lesson you should be able to answer questions about

• The History of the NFL

• League structure

• The typical league year

• The commissioner and his powers

• Team structure

• There will be an assessment at the end of this lesson that you will need to pass to move on to the next lesson.

National Football League

• The National Football League is one of the largest governing bodies of sports in the world.

• The NFL governs and maintains the rules for football a sport played by two teams on a field that is 360 foot long and 160 foot wide.

• Each team has an offense and a defense with 11 players on each side meaning that only 22 players are allowed on the field at the same time.

• According to Forbes Magazine the NFL made roughly 9 billion dollars in 2013 and is expected to increase by almost 20% in the next five years making it the most profitable sport in the world.

NFL History• The NFL was founded in 1920 under the name “The American

Professional Football Association.”

• The first league included 10 teams from 4 different states

• In 1922 the APFA was forced to restructure and became what we know as the National Football League.

• The first championship game was held in 1933 between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants in which the Bears won 23-21.

• A rival “American Football League” was founded in 1960 but was eventually forced to merge with the NFL after ten years in 1970.

• The NFL continued to grow until there was finally 32 teams operating two major conferences.

NFL Conferences• The NFL has two major conferences:

• The American Football Conference (AFC)

• The National Football Conference (NFC)

• There are four divisions in each conference with four teams in each.

• Each conferences has a north, south, east, and west division.

NFL Season

• The league year typically starts in the beginning of March.

• The first day of the league year is when teams may begin signing free agents (players no longer under contract).

• The next event in the league year is the draft which is held in late April or early May.

• In between the draft and the beginning of the preseason the teams are allowed to hold a few organized team activities (OTAs).

• The typical OTAs are a rookie (drafted and undrafted first year players) camp and a mini camp that is no longer than three days long that includes all team players.

NFL Season

• In late July and early August teams conduct a two to three week training camp in which the players learn the offensive and defense plays and packages that they will use during the year.

• Teams are allowed 96 players on their rosters at this point.

• At least during the last week or so of training camp the preseason begins.

• The preseason is currently four games in which the teams evaluate their players and make the roster cuts to 53 players.

• These games have no bearing on standing. They are merely meant as tuning games in which the team can learn and evaluate its players.

NFL Season

• After the preseason is the actual season.

• The season is 16 games long in a 17 week period.

• Each team is schedule one week in which they do not play called the bye week.

• The season determines the seeding for the post season.

• The teams with the best record in each division get an automatic pass into the post season.

• Two more teams with the best records in each of the conferences are then placed into the postseason as Wild Card teams.

• Each conference has 6 teams in the post season and they play each other in a single elimination tournament.

NFL Season

• The two teams with the best records in each conference are given a bye week during the first week of the postseason so they can rest.

• The two best teams in each division meet in their Conference Championship game and the winner of this game moves on to the Super Bowl.

• The winner of the Super Bowl is crowned the league champion for the year.

NFL Commissioner

• The highest executive of the NFL is the commissioner.

• The current commissioner is Roger Goodell who has served since 2006.

• The commissioner is essentially responsible for running the NFL.

NFL Commissioner

• The commissioner has the power to

• Resolve disputes between owners, players, coaches, officials, and league executives

• Hire and fire all league employees

• Discipline owners, players, coaches, and officials for violating league rules or operate with conduct detrimental to the league.

• Hand out fines up to $500,000

• Take away draft picks from teams

• In sum, the commissioner is the judge, jury, and executioner of the NFL, any and all decisions come from him. He is the most powerful man in the sport.

Team Structure

Team Structure: NFL Owners

• NFL Owners are basically the bank for the team.

• Their money is what is used to pay the players.

• Some of them can be very hands on with football operations or they can let their General Managers take care of the football operations.

• They meet once or twice a year and vote on new rules or changes to old rules.

Team Structure: General Manager

• Typically, the general manager is in charge of most of the decisions regarding the team.

• They are responsible for hiring the head coach, the head of football operations (scouting department), head scout, area scouts, and assistant scouts.

• They are the ones who deal with agents during free agency and usually are the ones who negotiate the contracts with all players on their team.

• They have final say on who the team drafts.

• They have to fill roster spots and make decisions on which players go on injured reserve.

Team Structure: Scouting Department

• The Head of Football Operations is the general manager’s right hand man.

• He assists the GM in anyway possible and helps organize the team’s scouts during the season

• Head Scout is the longest tenured scout with the team his responsibilities include assisting the head of football operations and teaching the lower levels scouts their responsibilities.

• Areas scouts are assigned to specific regions during the collegiate season and are responsible for gathering information on all players eligible for the draft in their area.

Team Structure: Coaching Staff

• The Head Coach is usually hired by the GM and/or manager and he is responsible for putting together the rest of the coaching staff.

• He is responsible for building a game plan each week during the season and to put his team in the best possible position to win.

• The offensive and defensive coordinators are responsible for assisting the head coach in building the game plan for their side of the ball.

• The position coaches help training, motivate, and teach the position players the proper way to play and help them better themselves.

End

• This concludes the first lesson of the NFL Scouting Initiative. Please complete the assessment to move on to the next topic: The NFL Draft.