Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ Lifts Curtain on Life Under Center
Netflix’s upcoming Quarterback docuseries—which followed Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota throughout the 2022 season—will feature plenty of game highlights, no doubt.
But the show, the trailer for which dropped Wednesday, will also tackle the challenges of life under center, including the strenuous demands of the job between game days. That aspect of the project got Mahomes on board.
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Quarterback executive producer Peyton Manning played a significant role in recruiting the first crop of subjects, all of whom also happened to be counselors at the Mannings’ Passing Academy program when they were in college.
When speaking to Mahomes, Manning specifically pitched the opportunity to better show Mahomes’ kids (he and his wife Brittany have two children) what their father does everyday. Once Mahomes bought in—in addition to NFL Films and Manning’s Omaha Productions, Mahomes’ 2PM Productions is listed as a producer on the series—Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid signed off as well.
Preview footage of the docuseries highlighted the off-the-field lives and family ties of all three signal-callers, something that has become a trademark piece of NFL Films hit series Hard Knocks. The three players were also mic’d up for every game of the season, which was eventful for each. Mahomes won the Super Bowl and a second NFL MVP award; Cousins led the largest single-game comeback in NFL history; and Mariota won the Falcons starting spot before being benched and ultimately placed on injured reserve by the team. This offseason, Mariota signed a one-year deal with the Eagles.
“I think anything where you can take people behind the ropes … everybody wants to see that,” Manning told Sportico in April. “And also celebrating the hard work that these guys have put in. … I think that’s what Omaha is trying to do: Celebrate hard work, celebrate people.”
The company recently added capital from Peter Chernin’s North Road Co. in exchange for a minority stake in the business.
All eight episodes of the first season of Quarterback are set to debut on July 12.
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