2016 NFL season

A total of 496 players were eligible for some form of free agency at the beginning of the free agency period.[4] In addition, a number of highly paid players were released after the start of the league year to allow their teams to regain space under the salary cap. Among the notable players who changed teams via free agency were:

• Quarterbacks Robert Griffin III (Washington to Cleveland) and Brock Osweiler (Denver to Houston)
• Running backs Matt Forte (Chicago to New York Jets), Chris Ivory (New York Jets to Jacksonville) Lamar Miller (Miami to Houston), and Alfred Morris (Washington to Dallas)
• Wide receivers Travis Benjamin (Cleveland to San Diego), Marvin Jones (Cincinnati to Detroit), Rishard Matthews (Miami to Tennessee), and Mohamed Sanu (Cincinnati to Atlanta)
• Tight ends Coby Fleener (Indianapolis to New Orleans) and Benjamin Watson (New Orleans to Baltimore)
• Offensive linemen Alex Boone (San Francisco to Minnesota), Alex Mack (Cleveland to Atlanta), Russell Okung (Seattle to Denver), Kelechi Osemele (Baltimore to Oakland), Mitchell Schwartz (Cleveland to Kansas City), Donald Stephenson (Kansas City to Denver),
• Defensive linemen Damon Harrison (New York Jets to New York Giants) Malik Jackson (Denver to Jacksonville), Brandon Mebane (Seattle to San Diego), and Olivier Vernon (Miami to New York Giants)
• Linebackers Demario Davis (New York Jets to Cleveland), Bruce Irvin (Seattle to Oakland), and Danny Trevathan (Denver to Chicago)
• Defensive backs Prince Amukamara (New York Giants to Jacksonville), Tashaun Gipson (Cleveland to Jacksonville), Casey Hayward (Green Bay to San Diego), Janoris Jenkins (Los Angeles to New York Giants), Rodney McLeod (Los Angeles to Philadelphia), Josh Norman (Carolina to Washington), Sean Smith (Kansas City to Oakland), and Eric Weddle (San Diego to Baltimore)

• March 9: Philadelphia traded CB Byron Maxwell, LB Kiko Alonso, and a 2016 first round pick to Miami in exchange for a 2016 first round draft pick.[5]
• March 9: Philadelphia traded RB DeMarco Murray along with a 2016 fourth round pick to the Tennessee in exchange for a 2016 fourth round pick.[6]
• March 11: Philadelphia traded QB Mark Sanchez to Denver in exchange for a conditional 2017 seventh-round draft pick.[7]
• March 15: New England traded DE Chandler Jones to Arizona in exchange for G Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second round pick.[8]
• March 16: Chicago traded TE Martellus Bennett along with a 2016 sixth round pick to New England in exchange for a 2016 fourth round pick.[9]
• April 9: Denver traded OT Ryan Clady and a 2016 seventh round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for a 2016 fifth round pick.[10]
• August 16: Tennessee traded WR Dorial Green-Beckham to Philadelphia in exchange for G Dennis Kelly.[11]
• September 3: Philadelphia traded QB Sam Bradford to Minnesota for a 2017 first round pick and conditional 2018 fourth round pick.[12]
• October 31: the New England traded LB Jamie Collins, Sr. to Cleveland for a conditional 2017 third round pick.

• DE Jared Allen – Five-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro. Allen played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and Carolina Panthers during his 12-year career.[13]
• RB Arian Foster – Four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro (two first-team, one second-team). Foster played for the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins during his eight-year career.[14]
• RB Marshawn Lynch – Five-time Pro Bowler, two-time All-Pro (one first-team, one second-team), and Super Bowl XLVIII champion. Lynch played for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks during his nine-year career.[15] Prior to the 2017 season, Lynch came out of retirement, signing with the Oakland Raiders.
• WR Calvin Johnson – Six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro (three first-team, one second-team). Johnson played his entire nine-year career for the Detroit Lions.[16]
• QB Peyton Manning – Fourteen-time Pro Bowler, 10-time All-Pro (seven first-team, three second-team), first overall selection in the 1998 NFL Draft, five-time NFL MVP (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2013), two-time Offensive Player of the Year (2004 and 2013), 2005 Walter Payton Man of the Year, 2012 Comeback Player of the year, two-time Super Bowl champion (XLI and 50), and Super Bowl XLI MVP. Manning played for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos during his 18-year career.[17]
• S Charles Woodson – Nine-time Pro Bowler, eight-time All-Pro (four first-team, four second-team), 2009 Defensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl XLV champion. Woodson shares the record for most career defensive touchdowns, with 13. He played for the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers during his 18-year career.[18]

The 2016 NFL Draft was held between April 28 − April 30, 2016 in Chicago. By way of a trade with the Tennessee Titans, the Los Angeles Rams held the first overall pick and selected QB Jared Goff.

• Pro Football Hall of Fame Game: The 2016 edition of the preseason Hall of Fame Game, between the Green Bay and the Indianapolis, was canceled due to unsafe playing conditions at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, caused by the use of improper paints applied to the field to create the Hall of Fame logo and other markings.[33]
• Week 8: The Green Bay–Atlanta game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET, was switched to 4:25 p.m. ET in place of the originally-scheduled Arizona–Carolina game, which was originally scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET (both games still on Fox).[34]
• Week 12: The Kansas City–Denver game, originally scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS, was flexed into the 8:30 p.m. ET slot on NBC's Sunday Night Football, in place of the originally-scheduled New England–New York Jets game, which was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS.[35]
• Week 14: The New Orleans–Tampa Bay game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET, was switched to 4:25 p.m. ET, still on Fox. The Bears–Lions game was "cross-flexed" from Fox to CBS, still at 1:00 p.m. ET.[36]
• Week 15: The Tampa Bay–Dallas game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox, was flexed into the 8:30 p.m. ET slot on NBC's Sunday Night Football, in place of the originally-scheduled Pittsburgh–Cincinnati game, which was moved to 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS.[37]
• Week 16: The Tampa Bay–New Orleans game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox, was switched to 4:25 p.m. ET (still on Fox).[38]
• Week 17: The Green Bay–Detroit game, which was originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox, was selected for the final 8:30 p.m. NBC Sunday Night Football game, which for the second consecutive season decided the NFC North division champion. Also, the New Orleans–Atlanta game and the New York Giants–Washington game were moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET, with both games still on Fox.

* Indicates overtime victory

On April 25, 2016, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the 2016 regular season related to Deflategate; Brady dropped his appeal shortly thereafter and declined to take his case to the Supreme Court.[40][41]

In 2016, several professional athletes protested the United States national anthem. The protests began in the NFL, when San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the anthem, as opposed to the tradition of standing, before a preseason game.[42]

Division Round

• The Patriots advanced to their sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game, surpassing the 1973–1977 Oakland Raiders for the most consecutive appearances in a conference championship game in history.[78]
• Chris Boswell made a postseason record six field goals.[79]
• Dak Prescott became the first rookie to throw three touchdown passes in a postseason game in the Super Bowl era.[80]
• Dion Lewis became the first player in NFL history to score a rushing, receiving and kickoff return touchdown in a playoff game.[81]

Super Bowl LI

• Super Bowl LI marked an NFL record seventh Super Bowl appearance for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick as a QB-head coach duo.[82]
• Super Bowl LI also marked the New England Patriots' ninth Super Bowl appearance, breaking a record shared with the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
• The Patriots accumulated 37 first downs in the game, an NFL postseason record.[83]
• Tom Brady's 43 pass completions, 62 pass attempts, and 466 passing yards all set new single game Super Bowl records.
• For the first time in NFL history, the Super Bowl went into overtime.
• After trailing 28–3, the Patriots won the game, 34–28, completing the largest comeback win in both team history and Super Bowl history.
• The Atlanta Falcons became the first losing team in Super Bowl history to return an interception for a touchdown; teams returning an interception for a touchdown in the Super Bowl had been a perfect 12–0.[84]

The 6th Annual NFL Honors, saluting the best players and plays from 2016 season, was held at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas on February 4, 2017.[86]

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

The following were named the top performers during the 2016 season:

The Atlanta Falcons played their 25th and final season at the Georgia Dome, with the team's new home field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, opened in 2017.[142]

The Minnesota Vikings played their first season at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Construction on the team's new home field in downtown Minneapolis wrapped up at the start of the 2016 season. The new stadium was built on the site of the Vikings' former home, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which was demolished after the 2013 season.[143]

The league scheduled a vote on whether to relocate one or two of its existing franchises to the Los Angeles metropolitan area on January 12, 2016. The league set a relocation fee of $550 million for any team that was approved to relocate.[144] On January 4, three teams filed to relocate to Los Angeles: the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, and the St. Louis Rams, all three of which had previously resided in the city at various points in their history.[145] Despite the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities recommending the Raiders' and Chargers' joint proposal for a stadium in Carson, California, on January 12, the league approved the Rams' proposal to relocate to Inglewood after three ballots and gave the Chargers the option to share the Rams' stadium if they so chose. In the first two rounds of voting, Inglewood led Carson 21–11 and 20–12 respectively; by the third ballot, the Rams proposal had received effectively unanimous support from the other owners, with the final vote reaching 30–2 (the Raiders and Chargers themselves casting the lone opposing votes).[146] The Rams played the first four seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, while their new stadium was built in Inglewood. The Rams had previously played at the Coliseum during their first stint in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1979.

The Rams and the St. Louis CVC (Convention & Visitors Commission) began negotiating deals to get the Rams' home stadium, The Dome at America's Center (then known as Edward Jones Dome), into the top 25 percent of stadiums in the league (i.e., top eight teams of the thirty-two NFL teams in reference to luxury boxes, amenities and overall fan experience). Under the terms of the lease agreement, the St. Louis CVC was required to make modifications to the Edward Jones Dome in 2005. However, then-owner, Georgia Frontiere, waived the provision in exchange for cash that served as a penalty for the city's noncompliance. The City of St. Louis, in subsequent years, made changes to the score board and increased the natural lighting by replacing panels with windows, although the overall feel remained dark. The minor renovations which totaled about $70 million did not bring the stadium within the specifications required under the lease agreement.

On February 1, 2013, a three-person arbitral tribunal selected to preside over the arbitration process found that the Edward Jones Dome was not in the top 25% of all NFL venues as required under the terms of the lease agreement between the Rams and the CVC. The tribunal further found that the estimated $700 million in proposed renovations by the Rams was not unreasonable given the terms of the lease agreement. Finally, the city of St. Louis was ordered to pay the Rams attorneys' fees which totaled a reported $2 million.

Publicly, city, county and state officials expressed no interest in providing further funding to the Edward Jones Dome in light of those entities, as well as taxpayers, continuing to owe approximately $300 million more on that facility. As such, if a resolution was not reached by the end of the 2014–2015 NFL season and the City of St. Louis remained non-compliant in its obligations under the lease agreement, the Rams were free to nullify their lease and relocate.

On January 31, 2014, both the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Rams owner Stan Kroenke had purchased 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum in Inglewood, California. It was, by the most conservative estimates, sufficient land on which an NFL-sized stadium may be constructed. The purchase price was rumored to have been between US$90–100 million. Commissioner Roger Goodell represented that Kroenke informed the league of the purchase. As an NFL owner, any purchase of land in which a potential stadium could be built must be disclosed to the league. This development further fueled rumors that the Rams intended to return its management and football operations to Southern California. The land was initially targeted for a Walmart Supercenter but Walmart could not get the necessary permits to build the center. Kroenke is married to Ann Walton Kroenke who is a member of the Walton family and many of Kroenke's real estate deals have involved Walmart properties.[147][148][149] On January 5, 2015, The Los Angeles Times reported that Kroenke Sports & Entertainment and Stockbridge Capital Group were partnering up to develop a new NFL stadium on property owned by Kroenke. The project included a stadium of up to 80,000 seats and a performance venue of 6,000 seats while reconfiguring the previously approved Hollywood Park plan for up to 890,000 square feet of retail, 780,000 square feet of office space, 2,500 new residential units, a 300-room hotel and 25 acres of public parks, playgrounds, open space and pedestrian and bicycle access. In lieu of this the city of St. Louis responded on January 9, 2015, by unveiling an outdoor, open air, riverfront stadium that could have accommodated the Rams and an MLS team with the hope that the NFL bylaws would force them to stay. On February 24, 2015, the Inglewood City Council approved the stadium and the initiative with construction on the stadium planned to begin in December 2015. On December 21, 2015, Construction was officially underway at the Hollywood Park site for the stadium. On January 4, 2016, after St. Louis finished last in per-game attendance for the 2015 season,[150] the team filed a relocation application to relocate to Los Angeles and released a statement on their website.

On January 12, 2016, the NFL owners approved the Inglewood proposal and the Rams' relocation by a 30–2 vote; the Rams relocated almost immediately thereafter.[151]

On February 19, 2015, the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers announced plans for a privately financed $1.7 billion stadium that the two teams would build in Carson, California if they were to move to the Los Angeles market.[152] Such a move would have marked a return to the nation's second-largest market for both teams; the Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 while the Chargers called Los Angeles home for their inaugural season in the American Football League. The Chargers were the only NFL team to play in Southern California at the time (until the Rams moved to Los Angeles in 2016), with San Diego being a 125-mile (201 km) distance from Los Angeles, and the Chargers counted Los Angeles as a secondary market. The Chargers had been looking to replace Qualcomm Stadium (which, like the Oakland Coliseum opened in the late 1960s) since at least 2003, and had an annual out clause in which it could move in exchange for paying a fine to the city of San Diego for its remaining years on its lease. The Raiders, meanwhile, had been operating on year-to-year leases with Oakland Coliseum, the stadium it has shared with the Oakland Athletics for most of its time in Oakland, California, since the last long-term lease on that stadium ended in 2013.[153]

Due to both television contracts and NFL bylaws, had both of the longstanding division rivals moved to Los Angeles, one of the teams would have been required to move to the NFC West, something that Mark Davis volunteered the Raiders to be willing to do. The Raiders moving to the National Football Conference would have been considered ironic seeing that Davis's father Al Davis was a staunch opponent of the NFL during its rivalry and eventual merger with the AFL. If such a scenario had happened, a NFC West team would have had to take their spot in the AFC West. The early rumor was that the Seattle Seahawks, who played in the AFC West from 1977 to 2001, would have been the favorite to have switched conferences with the Raiders. However, that team's then growing rivalry with the San Francisco 49ers had pointed to either the Arizona Cardinals or the then-St. Louis Rams switching conferences to take the Raiders' spot in the AFC West. Had the Rams stayed in St. Louis, switching them to the AFC would have allowed for a yearly home-and-home with the cross-state Kansas City Chiefs.[154] As a portion of the Rams' 2016 schedule was already set because of their International Series appearance, the league could not realign until at least 2017.

On October 23, 2015, Mark Fabiani, Chargers spokesperson confirmed that the team planned to officially notify the NFL about its intentions to relocate to Los Angeles in January during the timetable when teams can request to relocate.[155] On January 4, 2016, both teams filed relocation applications for relocation to Los Angeles. On January 12, 2016, the NFL voted to allow the Rams move to Los Angeles and the Inglewood proposal, effectively rejecting and killing the Carson proposal. The Chargers were then given the option to join the Rams in Inglewood in 2017, with the Raiders having the option in 2018 if the Chargers declined; the Chargers announced on January 29 that they would remain in San Diego for the 2016 season as negotiations continued, but that if negotiations ultimately failed, they had reached an agreement in principle with the Rams to join them in Los Angeles once the Inglewood stadium was complete.[156] The Raiders reached an agreement on another one-year lease extension with Oakland Coliseum on February 11, 2016, keeping the team in Oakland for one more season.

The Raiders, having previously explored San Antonio, Texas as a potential relocation site in 2014, moved on to other potential relocation sites after the rejection of the Carson proposal, focusing on a stadium plan in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Nevada. On August 25, 2016, the Raiders applied for a trademark for the "Las Vegas Raiders" and unveiled artist renditions of the proposed Las Vegas stadium, given the tentative title "Raiders Stadium".[157]

On August 13, the Buffalo Bills and Pegula Sports and Entertainment reached an agreement to sell the naming rights to their stadium to the locally based New Era Cap Company, a major headwear supplier to all of the major North American sports leagues. The stadium had previously been known as Rich Stadium from its opening in 1973, then as Ralph Wilson Stadium since 1998. The sale of naming rights came as somewhat of a surprise, as previous owner Ralph Wilson was firmly against selling the naming rights to the stadium and there were few companies in Western New York believed to have the money to pay the naming rights fee for an NFL stadium.[158]

Canadian-based financial services company Sun Life Financial had held the naming rights to the Miami Dolphins' stadium since 2010, a deal which expired in the offseason. The team already announced that it was not going to renew the license.[159] On August 16, 2016, it was reported that Hard Rock Cafe purchased the naming rights to the stadium, with the venue to be renamed Hard Rock Stadium.[160]

On April 2, the O.co Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders, reverted to its previous identity as the Oakland Alameda Coliseum. Online retailer Overstock.com held the naming rights to the Raiders' home field since 2011,[161] but opted out of the naming rights agreement, though it will continue to maintain its corporate sponsorship with the Athletics. The Raiders' home field has undergone numerous name changes in its history, including Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004) and McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008).[162]

On December 2, 2015, the Baltimore Ravens announced a change in the surface at M&T Bank Stadium from their previous Shaw Sportexe Momentum 51 artificial turf to natural Bermuda grass for the first time since the 2001 season, by player preference for a natural surface.[163] The field was replaced beginning on February 4, 2016, timed to be installed by the start of the Johns Hopkins lacrosse season.[164]

This was the third season under the league's broadcast contracts with its television partners. This included "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of whether the visiting team is in the AFC (which CBS normally airs) or the NFC (which is normally carried by Fox). NBC continued to air Sunday Night Football, the annual Kickoff game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN continued airing Monday Night Football and the Pro Bowl. During the postseason, ABC simulcasted one AFC Wild Card game with ESPN. One NFC Wild Card game was broadcast on NBC. Coverage of the AFC playoff games was split between CBS and NBC, while the remainder of the NFC playoff games was broadcast by Fox. CBS had exclusive coverage of the AFC Championship Game. Fox had exclusive coverage of the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LI, and it was also on Fox Deportes.

A change to the flexible scheduling rule takes effect for the 2016 season: in week 17, any game can be flexed into Sunday Night Football, regardless of how many times a team had been featured on a primetime game that season. This change can, theoretically, allow a game with playoff implications in the final week of the season to be moved to primetime for greater prominence.[175] As in 2015, the NFL will continue the "suspension" of its blackout policy, meaning that all games will be broadcast in their home markets regardless of ticket sales; Goodell stated that the league needed to continue investigating the impact of removing the blackout rules before such a change is made permanent.[176]

The league's contract with CBS for Thursday Night Football expired after the 2015 season and was placed back up for bids.[177] On February 1, 2016, the NFL announced that Thursday Night Football would be shared between CBS, NBC, and NFL Network for the 2016 season. CBS and NBC will each air five games, which will be simulcast by NFL Network, along with an additional eight games exclusively on NFL Network, the production of which will be split between the two networks. Commissioner Roger Goodell that the league was "thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of success broadcasting NFL football in primetime, and look forward to expanding with a digital partner for what will be a unique tri-cast on broadcast, cable and digital platforms."[178] On April 5, 2016, it was announced that Twitter had acquired non-exclusive worldwide digital streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television TNF games, including to mobile devices (this is the first time any NFL games have been made available to mobile devices not subscribed to Verizon Wireless, whose NFL Mobile app holds exclusive rights to all other games). This partnership will also include content for Twitter's live streaming service Periscope, such as behind-the-scenes access.[179]

After 2015's Bills–Jaguars International Series contest was a modest success, the league was initially expected to make all three of the 2016 London games exclusive to the Internet. Yahoo! Screen, which carried the 2015 contest, shut down in January 2016;[180] the bidders on the three games (which may or may not go to the same broadcaster) included YouTube and Apple TV, both of which bid on the 2015 game but were passed up in favor of Yahoo!'s bid.[181] Ultimately, the league decided not to make the International Series games Web-exclusive, instead focusing its efforts on the Thursday Night Football partnership with Twitter.[182]

Mike Tirico, the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football, announced his departure from ESPN on May 9, 2016; he joins NBC, where he was originally designated to lead the network's broadcast team for Thursday Night Football telecasts. Replacing Tirico on MNF is Sean McDonough.[183] The move was initially reported in April but not confirmed until the next month.[184] However, shortly before the start of the regular season, the league exercised a clause in its television contract with NBC demanding that any broadcast team that calls Sunday Night Football also call Thursday Night Football as well, effectively forcing Al Michaels to call both packages unless he and Tirico also split Sundays (this was the scenario that was ultimately chosen; on most weeks when Michaels calls a Thursday game, Tirico will call Sundays).[185] Tirico eventually got his chance the next season, when NBC announced he would replace Michaels after the NFL waived its broadcast team clause.

Tirico's colleague at ESPN, Heather Cox, was also hired by NBC as their sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football, after Michele Tafoya opted out to spend more time with family, and to focus on SNF.

This is also the final season Chris Berman serves as a studio analyst for ESPN's NFL programming; Berman has been with ESPN since the network's inception in 1979.[186]

This would also end up being Phil Simms' last season as lead color commentator for the NFL on CBS. Tony Romo, who would retire at the end of this season, would replace Simms as lead color commentator on CBS. Simms will join The NFL Today next season.

This would also lead to Tony Gonzalez and Bart Scott, leaving The NFL Today. Gonzalez will now be on Fox NFL Kickoff. Replacing Gonzalez and Scott will be Simms and Nate Burleson, who comes over from NFL Network's football morning talk show, Good Morning Football, although he will remain with the show.

This would also be the last season for Solomon Wilcots at CBS. James Lofton from Westwood One, will replace Wilcots next season.

Meanwhile, at Fox, this would be the last season for John Lynch, who would leave to be the next general manager of the San Francisco 49ers. Replacing Lynch next season, would be Charles Davis who would move up from the #4 team at Fox to join Kevin Burkhardt.

• 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.