Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I The Draft
Tom Brady Proves the Draft Is an Inexact Science 9
At Its Core, the Draft Is Anti-American 12
The Draft Is the Safest Place to Find a Franchise Quarterback 15
The Predraft Process Focuses on All the Wrong Things 18
Draft Picks Have Incredible Value to Teams-before They're Used 21
The Temptation to Tank Is Real 24
The Commissioner's Conundrum 27
The Draft Becomes an Accidental Road Show 30
Owners Often Get Involved without Getting Involved 33
There's a Huge Benefit to Discretion 36
Part II Free Agency
Free Agency Rarely Makes a Huge Difference for Any Team 41
The Franchise Tag Hurts Players More Than Fans Realize 44
Thanks to Free Agency, Players Often Can't Stay Put 47
Players Should Be Celebrated for Trying to Get More 50
The Albert Haynesworth Debacle 54
Running Backs Aren't Valued, and for Good Reason 57
Peyton Manning's Foray into Free Agency 60
Kirk Cousins Cracks the Franchise-Tag Code 63
Le'Veon Bell's Lost Season 66
Tom Brady Leaves Town after Twenty Years 69
Part III Quarterbacks
The Death of Johnny Unitas 75
The Rise of Mike Vick 77
Aaron Rodgers Sits for Three Years 80
The Brett Favre Retirement Odyssey 83
The Donovan McNabb Trade 86
Ben Roethlisberger's Redemption 89
Tebowmania 92
Andrew Luck Retires 95
The College Offense Revolution 98
Patrick Mahomes Changes Everything 101
The Quarterback Takeover 104
Part IV Coaches
The Jon Gruden Trade 111
The Rooney Rule 115
The Randy Ratio 118
Nick Saban 121
The Peter Principle, on Repeat 124
The Resentment of Bill Belichick 127
The Unreality of the NFL's Reality Show 130
Jim Harbaugh vs. Jim Schwartz 133
The Near Trade of Jim Harbaugh 136
Another Generation of Belichicks 138
Matt Rhule Blows the Salary Curve (and It Doesn't Matter) 140
Part V Owners
The Hiring of Matt Millen 145
The Commissioner 148
Daniel Snyder 151
The Lockout 154
The Misadventures of Jimmy Haslam 157
The Suspension of Jim Irsay 160
Jerry Jones vs. Roger Goodell 163
Robert Kraft Wins One for the Little Guy 166
The Green Bay Dynamic 169
The Rise of Analytics 172
Part VI Health and Safety
The Death of Korey Stringer 177
The Roy Williams Rule 180
Chris Simms Nearly Dies on the Field 185
The Concussion Epiphany 186
Defenseless Receivers 190
The Concussion Lawsuits 194
The Minimization of the Kickoff 197
Lowering the Helmet 200
The Pro Bowl 203
The In-Game Concussion Conundrum 206
The Pandemic 209
Part VII Off-Field Player Misconduct
The Whizzinator 215
The Love Boat 218
Reggie Bush 221
Pacman Jones 224
Mike Vick 227
Plaxico Burress 230
Brett Favre 233
Aaron Hernandez 236
Ray Rice 239
Ezekiel Elliott 242
Antonio Brown 245
Deshaun Watson 249
Part VIII Major Scandals
The Janet Jackson Incident 255
Spygate I 259
Spygate II 262
Bountygate 265
Bullygate 268
Michael Sam 271
Deflategate 274
Colin Kaepernick 279
Jerry Richardson 283
Spygate III 286
Jon Gruden and the WFT Emails 289
Part IX Officiating
Replay Review 297
The Tuck Rule 300
Super Bowl XL 303
Scott Green's Irrelevant (Not Really) Mistake 306
The Santonio Holmes Missed Call 309
The Fail Mary 312
The Index Card Incident 316
The Catch Rule 319
The Rams-Saints Debacle 322
The Worst Rule in Football 325
Part X The Future
The Proliferation of Sports Betting 331
The Injury Report 334
The Tim Donaghy Dynamic 338
Sky Judge 341
Protecting Inside Information 344
The Playoff Seeding Formula 347
Expansion 350
The Best Approach to Overtime 353
Protecting the Mental Health of Players 357
Global Domination 360
Corporate Ownership 363
Alternative Leagues 366
Acknowledgments 369