Albert Breer’s Notes: How NFL Teams’ Schedule Release Videos Are Vetted

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Schedule release
LeBron James and Tom Brady
David Njoku
Dallas Cowboys
Kansas City Chiefs
Kicker market
Vikings’ GM search
Taylen Green
World Cup

Let’s dive into my Tuesday notes, with the NFL schedule release a couple of days away.

Schedule release

I checked with a couple of social media managers to see what guidance they’ve received on what is and isn’t out of bounds for this week’s schedule release videos. There are a couple of touchy subjects circulating throughout the league that may or may not get referenced on Thursday night when each team drops its offering.

What I’ve heard, as of Tuesday morning, is that there hasn’t been any league-wide edict on what’s acceptable and what isn’t, though there have been reminders to promote network shows carrying the schedule release itself.

But most teams do have to run their videos by someone high up on the football side—in some cases, it’s the GM, in others, the head coach—before they publish. The Chargers, of course, have been at the forefront of these videos, poking fun at players embroiled in controversy, like Harrison Butker and Deshaun Watson (though, notably, there haven’t been shots at owners or coaches).

Last year, the Colts’ video depicted Tyreek Hill being arrested by the Coast Guard eight months after Hill was detained during a traffic stop in Miami. Indianapolis took the video down and apologized to Microsoft, the owner of Minecraft, and Hill for the insensitive joke.

LeBron James and Tom Brady

This is an NFL column, but LeBron James bowing out of the second round of the NBA playoffs, his Lakers swept by the reigning champion Thunder, got my attention over the past 24 hours because of the implications to one of the great athletes of my lifetime.

The first time I saw James play was in late 2000 or early 2001, when I was a junior at Ohio State, and a buddy of mine who grew up in Akron, Ohio, dragged me out to watch some high school sophomore he seemed way too excited about in a tournament in Columbus. A year later, James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and by the time I saw him play again, in a state semifinal at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center in 2002, everyone knew who he was.

So why am I bringing this up here? Because I think, when the book closes on James’s career, we’re going to look back at a pair of athletes, from different sports, whose careers intersected the likes of which we’d never seen before and may never see again. The level that James and Tom Brady achieved and sustained for so long is absolutely incredible and should be fully appreciated.

All you have to do is look at the numbers.

Brady played 23 NFL seasons, was selected to 15 Pro Bowls, won MVP three times, made the playoffs 20 times, got to the Super Bowl 10 times, won seven championships with two franchises, and retired as the sport’s all-time leader in career quarterback wins, passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions and attempts. He was an all-decade player for both the 2000s and 2010s.

James, meanwhile, has played 23 NBA seasons, made 22 All-Star teams, won MVP four times, made the playoffs 19 times, got to the NBA Finals 10 times, won four championships with three franchises, and is his sport’s all-time leader in points, field goals, and minutes played, while ranking fourth all-time in assists, sixth all-time in steals and 23rd all-time in rebounds. The NBA doesn’t do all-decade teams, but he was All-NBA first team 13 times.

In both cases, that is an astounding level of sustainability. It’s also, to me, a testament to each player’s love of the sport. You don’t make it that far, reach that level and stay there for that long, without being incredibly, unendingly passionate about the game you play.

So much so that I don’t think we’ll ever see a pair like these two again.

Now, I know a lot of folks don’t like James, just like a lot of folks don’t like Brady.

But that shouldn’t stop you from appreciating what we’ve gotten to witness.

David Njoku

I like the David Njoku signing for the Chargers for two specific reasons, both relating to why he was available in the first place.

The first is the price. In recent years, Njoku seemed perpetually upset with his contract situation. If you’d waited and waited and waited to be made whole financially, you too would probably be prone to overshooting your market, as it seems Njoku did, with unrealistic hopes in March. On the other side, the Chargers were able to snap him up for less than they signed Charlie Kolar for back in March.

And second is the presence of Kolar. With Njoku headed into Year 10, and turning 30 in July, questions swirled over the past couple of months among the teams considering signing him about his ability/willingness as a blocker. Kolar’s presence, as one of the top blocking tight ends in football, makes that far less of an issue, with Njoku likely playing as the “F” tight end to Kolar’s “Y” (while bringing the flexibility to go to the “Y” when Oronde Gadsden II is in the game).

So Njoku’s a Charger, and now the vision for the team’s offense can really come together. It looks like Mike McDaniel, in his first year as Jim Harbaugh’s OC, will have plenty to work with.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys’ brand is simply different than everyone else’s. That was underscored again this week with NBC landing Dallas’s opener against the Giants, which doubles as John Harbaugh’s New York debut.

As a reminder, Dallas was 7-9-1 last year, and has had a relatively normal offseason. And yet, the NFL carved out prime Week 1 real estate (again) for Jerry Jones.

If you include the 2026 opener, over the past 25 seasons, the Cowboys have opened with a 1 p.m. ET game only once. They’ve been on NBC to start the season—either in the Thursday kickoff game (three times, though one was actually on a Wednesday) or the Sunday Night Football opener (10 times)—on 13 occasions over the past 20 years. And it’s happened despite the fact that they haven’t so much as made an NFC title game over that period.

That’s staggering. It also tells you all you need to know about Dallas’s brand, versus everyone else’s. Most teams’ relevance is tied to winning. The Cowboys’ isn’t.

Kansas City Chiefs

While we’re on the schedule, the Chiefs opening on Monday night is really interesting, as it’s a bet, by ESPN and the NFL, that Patrick Mahomes will be ready to go. And I think he will be—which would make the matchup against the Broncos, already figuring to be important, even more fascinating.

(Because of the nature of their respective injuries, there are fewer questions on Bo Nix’s availability.)

Kicker market

The kicker market continued to climb this week, with the Steelers’ Chris Boswell matching the $7 million per year that Brandon Aubrey received from the Cowboys. And I’d say that’s a bargain, given how a good kicker can win games and shorten the field for an offense.

Vikings’ GM search

Vikings GM interviews got underway this week, with the first set held over Zoom, followed by in-person interviews with the finalists. As essentially the only game in town, and because it’s a quiet time in the scouting calendar, Minnesota can take its time as it filters through assistant GMs Chad Alexander (Chargers), RJ Gillen (49ers), Terrance Gray (Bills), John McKay (Rams), Nolan Teasley (Seahawks) and Dave Ziegler (Titans). Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf is leading the Zoom sessions alongside coach Kevin O’Connell.

Taylen Green

I know everyone’s focused on the other quarterbacks in Cleveland, but I’m intrigued to see what sixth-rounder Taylen Green looks like in Todd Monken’s offense, given the wide array of quarterbacks Monken’s been around, which includes David Garrard (Jaguars), Brandon Weeden (Oklahoma State), Nick Mullens (Southern Miss), Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buccaneers), Baker Mayfield (Browns), Stetson Bennett IV (Georgia) and Lamar Jackson (Ravens). If there’s something there, I bet Monken will find it in the uber-athletic Green.

World Cup

Finally, I think the NFLPA’s statement on NFL teams resurfacing their stadiums for the World Cup is just a precursor to more discussion on this issue over the next couple of months. I promise we’ll have a lot more for all of you on it in the coming weeks.

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