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NFL schedule release: Ranking the best of the league's videos

Jack Baer
Staff writer
·5 min read
7

Some people love NFL schedule release day and some think it's an overhyped, convoluted mess to grab offseason headlines, but no one takes it more seriously than every team's social media department.

The annual releasing of the schedules has become an annual game of one-upping between teams, and 2022 more than delivered. Sure, some teams basically took the easy road (i.e. not producing an extended, stylish video going through their upcoming schedule), but the majority of the league stepped up.

Even a few uninspired misses (generic hype videos and Andy Reid reading games off a list) couldn't ruin a bumper crop of content. Here are our 10 favorites from around the NFL from the avant garde to anime.

10. Buffalo Bills

This is admittedly a weird, weird way to start this list, but this video hits different when your brain is already used to searching for the signal in the usual nonsense of schedule release videos. Dawson Knox's buffalo sauce hand massage of Josh Allen may have been a tad much, though.

9. Green Bay Packers

Nothing is more tried and true with schedule release videos than the retro video game style. The Packers don't do much to break the mold, but it's visually fun enough to earn a spot here.

8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

There's nothing wrong with throwing a funny player in front of the camera and letting it rip, and All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs more than delivers. Pause the Week 4 part of the video at just the right time for some delightful Super Bowl LV shade.

7. New York Jets

Some of these are a little forced, but the mark of a good schedule release is wondering how they'll pull off the next game, and this at least accomplishes it.

6. Washington Commanders

This is just plain fun. Smashing stuff in slow motion is an idea that will never get old (a YouTube channel with 14.4 million subscribers can attest to that) and the Commanders fully leverage that.

5. Atlanta Falcons

This video would be a lot higher if the Falcons managed to include their entire schedule in their Rube Goldberg machine (this is a very pro-Rube Goldberg machine platform), but alas, they had to resort to throwing some teams in via background photos. Unfortunately, the thumbnail does it make it look like the Falcons lost 22-20 to schedule.

4. Carolina Panthers

Pick a theme, throw in names and numbers, then ride the nostalgia. Only 90s kids will get this video, but plenty more should appreciate the effort.

3. Dallas Cowboys

We have no idea why Stephen A. Smith agreed to this, but good on him for churning out some truly good sports content for once (too mean?). Yes, somehow a video focused almost entirely on Stephen A. Smith and Jerry Jones is in our top 3. We are just as surprised as you are.

2. Detroit Lions

Now this is how you take full advantage of recent viral status, for both the Lions and Detroit Urban Survival Training sensation Dale Brown. You should still never use Brown's advise if another human is threatening you, but this is just too good.

Bonus points for an actual good Russell Wilson burn (there were a lot of them this year), a dig at Urban Meyer and what we think may be a Matt Patricia joke for their game against New England Patriots

1. Los Angeles Chargers

In most other years, the Panthers and Cowboys would be fine as a high water mark. In nearly every other year, the Lions would have been the class of the league.

But the Chargers are here, and they remain extraordinarily good at this.

We have no idea how much it costs to produce two-plus minutes of anime complete with actually good music and references to the likes of One Piece, Naruto, Attack on Titan, Avatar: The Last Airbender and more, but we are elated the social team took the leap.

Even beyond the anime, this video is an absolute machine gun of disrespect, with targets including Antonio Brown's helmet drama, Kyler Murray's social media-wiping and Urban Meyer's ill-advised trip to the club. We have no idea what the Seahawks ever did to the Chargers, but they somehow got the hilarious worst of it.

It's not even close this year. The Social Media Super Bowl goes to the Chargers and they most certainly earned it.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 09: Justin Herbert #10 of the Los Angeles Chargers warms up before playing against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on January 09, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)
Justin Herbert starred in the NFL's best schedule release video this year. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)