2019 NFL season


The 2019 NFL season was the 100th season of the National Football League. The season began on September 5, 2019 with the NFL Kickoff Game, in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears 10–3. The season concluded with Super Bowl LIV, the league's championship game, on February 2, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida between the American Football Conference champion Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football Conference champion San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs defeated the 49ers 31–20 to win their second Super Bowl championship.

Player movement

The 2019 NFL league year and trading period began on March 13. On March 8, teams were allowed to exercise 2019 options for players with option clauses in their contracts, to submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents and to submit minimum salary tenders to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2018 contracts who had fewer than three accrued seasons of free-agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "Top 51" definition. On March 11, clubs were allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with the agents of players who were set to become unrestricted free agents.

Free agency

Free agency began on March 13. Notable players to change teams included:
The following notable trades were made during the 2019 league year:
Other retirements

Draft

The 2019 NFL Draft was held from April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Arizona Cardinals selected Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall selection.

Officiating changes

The following rule changes were approved for the 2019 season at the NFL owners' meeting on March 26:
An additional rule change was built upon a rule originally passed in 2018. The NFL limited helmets to a list of 34 league-approved models, up from the 23 originally approved in 2018. The grandfather clause allowing existing players to wear their previous non-approved helmets expired, and 32 players were required to change helmets. In May 2019, the NFL banned Oklahoma drills, "bull in the ring," and other high-contact drills from team practices. In June 2019, the league clarified the March 2019 temporary rule change regarding reviews of pass interference plays as follows:
Midway through the season, another rule was introduced without explicit approval from the competition committee:

Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

;Pat Bowlen:Bowlen owned the Denver Broncos since 1984. His Broncos won three Super Bowls during his tenure. He was inducted in 2019 but died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 75 on June 13, before the induction ceremonies. Under the terms of a succession plan, the team will be operated by a trust headed by longtime executive Joe Ellis until it can be determined which of Bowlen's five surviving children will inherit the team.
;Willie Brown:Brown spent his first four seasons with the Denver Broncos and his last twelve with Oakland Raiders, winning Super Bowl XI with the Raiders. Brown was also a nine-time Pro Bowler and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984. He died on October 22 at the age of 78.
;Nick Buoniconti:Buoniconti, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, was an eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played seven seasons with the Boston Patriots from 1962–1968 and seven more with the Miami Dolphins from 1969–1974 and 1976. He won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins in 1972 and 1973. Buoniconti died on July 30 at the age of 78.
;Forrest Gregg:Gregg, a guard, spent all but the final season of his playing career with the Green Bay Packers, a member of the Packers' 1960s dynasty. In his final year, he helped the Dallas Cowboys team win Super Bowl VI. Gregg was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977, his first year of eligibility. He also had a less illustrious coaching career in the NFL, college football and the Canadian Football League in the late 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s, most successfully leading the 1981 Cincinnati Bengals to an AFC championship and a loss in Super Bowl XVI to the San Francisco 49ers. Gregg died on April 12 at the age of 85.
;Jim Langer:Langer, who played center for 11 NFL seasons, nine with the Miami Dolphins alongside Buoniconti and two with the Minnesota Vikings, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987. He died on August 29 at the age of 71.
;Gino Marchetti:Marchetti was a defensive end who played 14 seasons in the NFL, 13 with the Baltimore Colts. Marchetti won two NFL championships, was selected to 11 Pro Bowls and made earned first-team All-Pro designations with the Colts. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972. Marchetti died on April 29 at the age of 93.
;Bart Starr:Starr played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers during his entire 16-year career and was the team's undisputed starter for the last 12 of those seasons. He was the Packers' starting quarterback for all five of the NFL championships the team won in the 1960s and was the Most Valuable Player of the first two World Championship Games. He also had a nine-season run as the Packers' head coach from 1975–1983, but only two of the nine were winning seasons. Starr was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. He died on May 26 at the age of 85.

Team owners

;Bill Bidwill:Bidwill was the owner of the Arizona Cardinals since the 1960s. He died on October 2 at the age of 88. The Bidwill family has been associated with the Cardinals since Bidwill's father Charles bought the team in 1933. His son Michael is expected to succeed his father as team owner.
;Barron Hilton:Hilton was the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers from 1960–1966. He was the last living member of the original Foolish Club, the group of owners who established the American Football League and Lamar Hunt.

Others

Preseason

for the 2019 season were held in late July through August. Teams started training camp no earlier than 15 days before their first scheduled preseason game. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, in which the Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons 14–10, was played on August 1, televised nationally by NBC and held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, the same city where the league was founded 99 years prior. The Broncos were represented in the 2019 Hall of Fame class by owner Pat Bowlen and former cornerback Champ Bailey, while the Falcons were represented by former tight end Tony Gonzalez.
On August 17, the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams played a preseason game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, the former home of the Pro Bowl.
On August 22, the Oakland Raiders beat the Green Bay Packers 22–21 at IG Field in Winnipeg, home of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers; it was the first NFL game on Canadian soil since the end of the Bills Toronto Series in 2013. Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan was another potential site for the game, and the teams had secured the cooperation of the city and local sports promoter On Ice Management, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders vetoed the proposal, as the Roughriders feared they would be unable to reconfigure the field from NFL to CFL standards in time for their August 24 home game. Because of safety concerns caused by the reconfiguration of the goalposts, the NFL, at the last minute, shortened the playing field to only 80 yards long and eliminated kickoffs, starting all possessions on the 15-yard line. Thirty-three Packers players refused to play on the surface, including starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

NFL centennial promotions

On October 18, 2018, the NFL announced that it would commemorate its 100th season throughout 2019, beginning with Super Bowl LIII in February 2019. An NFL 100 emblem was featured in promotions across all NFL properties during the season, worn on jerseys as a patch, placed on game balls, and painted on fields.
The Chicago Bears celebrated their centennial season with commemorative events throughout 2019. On November 15, 2018, the team unveiled a customized version of the league-wide centennial emblem. The team also unveiled a throwback jersey based on its 1936 design, which it donned for two games.
The NFL aired a special two-minute commercial during Super Bowl LIII to launch the centennial campaign, which featured a gala dinner attended by 40 current and former NFL players, including Rams RB Todd Gurley, then-Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr., Patriots QB Tom Brady, former Broncos and Colts QB Peyton Manning, Hall of Fame WRs Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin and Hall of Fame QB Terry Bradshaw, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL officials Ron Torbert and Sarah Thomas, viral teenage girl football star Samantha Gordon, and video game streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. The commercial won the annual Super Bowl Ad Meter survey held by USA Today, marking the first time that the NFL itself won.
In honor of the site of the first NFL game, the league announced plans to donate a new artificial turf field to Triangle Park in Dayton, Ohio, home field of the former Dayton Triangles, intending for the Cincinnati Bengals to hold a day of training camp at the site. However, the project was rejected by the city after concerns that construction could potentially disturb a Native American burial site. The NFL instead donated the turf to nearby Kettering Field. The Bengals still held a training camp day in Dayton, doing so at Welcome Stadium instead.
The NFL intentionally scheduled a weekly game to honor landmark moments in NFL history:

Regular season

The 2019 regular season's 256 games were played over a 17-week schedule that began on September 5, 2019. Each of the league's 32 teams played a 16-game schedule, with one bye week for each team. There were games on Monday nights and on Thursdays, including the National Football League Kickoff game and games on Thanksgiving Day. The regular season concluded with a full slate of 16 games on December 29, all of which were intra-division matchups, as it had been since.
;Scheduling formula
Under the NFL's current scheduling formula, each team played the other three teams in its own division twice. In addition, teams played against all four teams in one other division from each conference. The final two games on a team's schedule were against the two remaining teams in the same conference that had finished in the same position in their respective divisions in 2018. The division parings for 2019 were as follows:
The entire schedule was released on April 17, 2019.
Highlights of the 2019 season included:
When the entire season schedule was released on April 17, the league announced Saturday games to be played in Week 16. On November 12, the NFL announced that three games would be moved from Sunday, December 22 to Saturday, December 21: Texans–Buccaneers at 1:00 p.m. ET, Bills–Patriots at 4:30 p.m. ET, and Rams–49ers at 8:15 p.m. ET, all on the NFL Network. The two other games that the NFL had the option of moving remained on Sunday, December 22.

In-season scheduling changes

Division

Conference

Postseason

The 2019 playoffs began on January 4–5, 2020 with the Wild Card Round. The four winners of these games visited the top two seeds in each conference in the Divisional Round games on January 11–12. The winners of those games advanced to the Conference Championships on January 19. The 2020 Pro Bowl was played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on January 26. Super Bowl LIV, was played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on February 2.
The start times for the Divisional Round games on Sunday, January 12, were moved to 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET, rather than the typical 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. windows used for this round in previous seasons.

Bracket

Notable events

Andrew Luck's retirement

News of Indianapolis Colts quarterback and 2012 first overall pick Andrew Luck retiring broke out during the Colts' third preseason game. His retirement quickly became one of the most surprising revelations of the year. During his post-game press conference, Luck stated that his retirement was due to the recent mental and physical difficulties of playing football. Luck had won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2018.

Antonio Brown controversies

Wide receiver Antonio Brown was involved in several controversies throughout the off-season, preseason, and regular season. Brown was held out by his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers during week 17 of 2018 due to a heated fall out with QB Ben Roethlisberger. He was subsequently traded to the Oakland Raiders in March 2019. However, Brown's helmet model had been banned by the NFL due to inadequate protection, prompting Brown to hold out of practices and file two grievances against the NFL, both of which were denied. Brown then accepted the new helmet model and returned to practice, but later wore inadequate footwear in a cryogenic chamber and got frostbite on his feet, causing additional concern for his availability in Week 1. Brown next released recorded audio of Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and requested that the Raiders release him. He was subsequently released and signed with the New England Patriots. On September 10, allegations that Brown had raped his former trainer, Britney Taylor, caused speculation that he might be put on the commissioner's exempt list, barring him from playing. However, the NFL did not do so and Brown played in the Patriots' Week 2 game. On September 16, a second woman accused Brown of sexual misconduct. That same day, Pittsburgh-based Dr. Victor Prisk, who worked with Brown during his time with the Steelers, sued Brown for $11,500 in unpaid fees. The Patriots cut Brown on September 20 after he allegedly sent intimidating text messages to his second accuser.

Steelers–Browns brawl

In the final seconds of a November 14 Thursday Night Football matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, Browns DE Myles Garrett tackled Steelers QB Mason Rudolph after Rudolph completed a screen pass to RB Trey Edmunds. Upset by the late tackle, Rudolph attacked Garrett by attempting to pull off Garrett's helmet. Garrett then ripped off Rudolph's helmet and used it to hit Rudolph in the head while being restrained by Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey and Steelers G David DeCastro. Pouncey and Browns DT Larry Ogunjobi then joined in on the fight. Garrett, Ogunjobi, and Pouncey were all ejected from the game. Following the game, Garrett was suspended for the remainder of 2019 and required to apply for reinstatement in 2020, while Pouncey and Ogunjobi received 2-game and 1-game suspensions, respectively. Garrett was reinstated in February 2020, ending his suspension after six games. The six-game suspension was the longest in NFL history for a single on-field transgression.

Patriots videotaping controversy

During the December 8 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, the New England Patriots were alleged to have spied on the Bengals' sideline. The Patriots, who were scheduled to play the Bengals the following week, sent a video team to Cleveland to film a documentary of an advance scout, part of the "Do Your Job" series on the Patriots' website. This video contractor was given media credentials by the Browns, but the Bengals and NFL were not made aware of the presence of the Patriots' video crew. According to ESPN's Dianna Russini, a Bengals staffer spotted the Patriots' cameraman and proceeded to observe what he was doing. Allegedly, the cameraman proceeded to point his camera at the Bengals coaching staff and sideline for most of the quarter. The Bengals employee reported him to media relations, who reported him to security; security then seized the film and leaked it to Jay Glazer, who made the footage public. The NFL has launched an investigation into these allegations. This was the second time the current Patriots administration was involved in an unauthorized videotaping scandal, following the Spygate controversy in 2007.

Records, milestones, and notable statistics

Week 1
Week 2
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Divisional Round
Conference Championships
Super Bowl

Awards

Individual season awards

The 9th Annual NFL Honors, saluting the best players and plays from 2019 season, was held on February 1, 2020 at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida.
AwardWinnerPositionTeam
AP Most Valuable PlayerLamar JacksonQBBaltimore Ravens
AP Offensive Player of the YearMichael ThomasWRNew Orleans Saints
AP Defensive Player of the YearStephon GilmoreCBNew England Patriots
AP Coach of the YearJohn HarbaughHCBaltimore Ravens
AP Assistant Coach of the YearGreg RomanOCBaltimore Ravens
AP Offensive Rookie of the YearKyler MurrayQBArizona Cardinals
AP Defensive Rookie of the YearNick BosaDESan Francisco 49ers
AP Comeback Player of the YearRyan TannehillQBTennessee Titans
Pepsi Rookie of the YearNick BosaDESan Francisco 49ers
Walter Payton NFL Man of the YearCalais CampbellDEJacksonville Jaguars
PFWA NFL Executive of the YearJohn LynchGMSan Francisco 49ers
Super Bowl Most Valuable PlayerPatrick MahomesQBKansas City Chiefs

All-Pro team

The following players were named First Team All-Pro by the Associated Press:

Players of the week/month

The following were named the top performers during the 2019 season:

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

Off-season

In-season

Front office personnel

Off-season

Stadiums

Rams' and Chargers' new stadium

This was the third and final season for the Los Angeles Chargers at Dignity Health Sports Park and this is the fourth and final season for the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Both teams will move to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California in 2020.

Bills' potential for relocation

A buyout window in the Buffalo Bills' lease on New Era Field opens after the 2019 season. The window allows the team to cancel its lease on the stadium for a $28 million fee and relocate. If the Bills choose not to exercise the buyout window, they will not be allowed to relocate until after the 2022 season, when the current lease expires.

Broncos' naming rights

On September 4, the Denver Broncos' home field was rebranded as Empower Field at Mile High. The Broncos had been seeking a long-term naming rights partner for their home field since sporting goods retailer Sports Authority went bankrupt in. Empower Retirement, a retirement plan provider that is based in Denver, had served as a team sponsor since, with the Broncos agreeing to terms on a 21-year deal that will run through 2039, though financial terms were not disclosed. This marks the third naming rights change for the Broncos' home field, following "Invesco Field at Mile High", "Sports Authority Field at Mile High" and "Broncos Stadium at Mile High" — the latter of which was used on a temporary basis for.

Raiders' relocation

This was the final season for the Oakland Raiders at RingCentral Coliseum before moving to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Raiders' lease on the Coliseum expired after the 2018 season. The team is slated to move to Las Vegas, Nevada once Allegiant Stadium is completed; it is currently scheduled to open in 2020. The Coliseum management expressed a reluctance to allow the Raiders to continue using the Coliseum after the lease expires unless the team paid more to cover the losses the Coliseum incurred by hosting Raiders games. In December 2018, the city of Oakland filed a lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL seeking financial damages and unpaid debt, claiming the proposed relocation is illegal but not asking for an injunction forcing the team to stay. The Raiders have stated that if any legal action were filed against them, that they would not renew with the Coliseum and find another, undetermined, temporary home for 2019 until Allegiant Stadium is finished. The Raiders then attempted to negotiate a lease with Oracle Park in San Francisco before the San Francisco 49ers vetoed the plan as an infringement on their territorial rights. With the 49ers refusing to waive territorial rights, the Raiders were forced to either renegotiate with the Coliseum or find a temporary stadium outside the San Francisco Bay Area. The Raiders, despite reservations about providing funds to the lawsuit being filed against them, negotiated a return to the Coliseum for 2019; a tentative agreement, pending Coliseum and league approval, was announced February 25. The lease agreement was approved by the Oakland Coliseum Authority, the Oakland city council, and Alameda County supervisors by March 21. The Coliseum was the last multi-purpose stadium to be the home of both an NFL and Major League Baseball team. Barring any future relocations, the Raiders' September 15 game against the Kansas City Chiefs stands as the last NFL game played on a dirt infield.

Uniforms

Uniform changes

  • Carolina Panthers: The Panthers switched to Nike's newest uniform template and updated their pants, removing the team logo from it and streamlining the piping stripe.
  • Cleveland Browns: On September 4, the Browns announced that they would switch to their former Color Rush uniforms as their primary home set this season, and wore these uniforms for six home games.
  • Houston Texans: On April 22, the Texans announced that they would add their primary logo on the back of their jerseys, their first uniform update in franchise history. The addition of the logo on the jersey's back makes them the third team in the NFL to do so, after the Arizona Cardinals and Buffalo Bills.
  • Los Angeles Chargers: On April 16, the Chargers announced that they made their powder blue alternate jerseys the new primary uniforms. In addition to this announcement, they also swapped out their navy blue facemask for gold.
  • New York Jets: On April 4, the Jets unveiled new uniforms, which introduced black as an accent color and resembled a modernized version of the uniform layout the Jets used from 1978 to 1997, including a return to green helmets and "TV numbers" on the shoulders.

    Throwback uniforms

  • Chicago Bears: To celebrate their 100th season, the Bears wore throwback jerseys based on their 1936 uniforms for two home games.

    Patches

  • 31 teams wore a version of the NFL centennial emblem, with the NFL shield beneath the "100," on the yoke of their jerseys in place of the regular NFL shield. The Chicago Bears instead wore their own centennial team patch, a customized version of the league-wide centennial emblem with the Bears' colors and logo, on the left side of the jersey.
  • The Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars wore patches to commemorate the 25th season for each franchise.
  • The Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers wore patches to commemorate the 60th season for each franchise.
  • On October 10, the Arizona Cardinals unveiled a patch to commemorate the death of team owner Bill Bidwill. It featured his initials, "WVB."

    Media

This was the sixth year under the current broadcast contracts with ESPN, CBS, Fox and NBC. This includes "cross-flexing" Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season. NBC airs Sunday Night Football, the annual Kickoff Game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN airs Monday Night Football and the Pro Bowl with the latter being simulcast on ABC. Fox airs Thursday Night Football along with NFL Network, with Amazon Video and Twitch continuing to simulcast those games online in the second and final year of the two sites' current contract. Fox will also broadcast Super Bowl LIV. ESPN aired coverage for all three days of the 2019 NFL Draft on ABC, replacing Fox's broadcast television simulcast of NFL Network in 2018. ABC's coverage catered towards a mainstream audience and was hosted by the panel of ESPN's College GameDay, while ESPN and NFL Network continued to carry more conventional coverage of the draft.
Under a one-year test, local stations in markets with NFL teams are allowed on a limited basis to air another NFL game opposite the game involving that city's home team, something that had previously been forbidden. It was originally reported that all media markets in the U.S. who have CBS and Fox affiliates will have access to three Sunday afternoon games every week regardless of whether the local team is playing at home. The league later clarified that teams will still be able to impose the home exclusivity blackout on a limited basis, so long as they lift the exclusivity at least twice.
The league has an option to cancel its contract with DirecTV after the 2019 season. DirecTV has had exclusive rights to the league's out-of-market sports package, NFL Sunday Ticket, since the package was introduced in 1994.

Personnel changes

On February 28, 2019, Jason Witten announced he would be leaving his color commentator position on Monday Night Football after one season; he returned to the Dallas Cowboys, where he had played tight end for fifteen seasons before joining ESPN in 2018. Witten was not replaced; Booger McFarland, who spent the previous season commentating from atop a crane-like contraption on the sideline, was moved into the booth. Former referee Jeff Triplette also left Monday Night Football as rules analyst. He was replaced with John Parry, who retired the same day his ESPN position was announced; Parry is the third rules analyst ESPN has hired in two years, following Triplette and Gerald Austin. Steve Tasker departed CBS after 21 seasons with the network, all but one as a color commentator, after CBS declined to renew Tasker's contract. Tasker anticipates moving to radio and calling games for Westwood One for the 2019 season. Twitch added "co-streaming" with live commentary from specially chosen users of the service for its 2019 Thursday night games.

Most watched regular season games

  • DH = doubleheader; SNF = NBC Sunday Night Football
*Note — Late DH matchups listed in table are the matchups that were shown to the largest percentage of the market.
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