2017 NFL season

A total of 496 players were eligible for some form of free agency at the beginning of the free agency period.[3] Notable players to change teams via free agency included:

• Quarterbacks Jay Cutler (Chicago to Miami), Brock Osweiler (Houston to Cleveland)
• Running backs Jamaal Charles (Kansas City to Denver), Eddie Lacy (Green Bay to Seattle), Latavius Murray (Oakland to Minnesota), Adrian Peterson (Minnesota to New Orleans), and Mike Tolbert (Carolina to Buffalo)
• Wide receivers Kenny Britt (Los Angeles Rams to Cleveland), Pierre Garçon (Washington to San Francisco), DeSean Jackson (Washington to Tampa Bay), Alshon Jeffery (Chicago to Philadelphia), Brandon Marshall (New York Jets to New York Giants), Terrelle Pryor (Cleveland to Washington), Torrey Smith (San Francisco to Philadelphia), and Robert Woods (Buffalo to Los Angeles Rams),
• Tight ends Martellus Bennett (New England to Green Bay) and Jared Cook (Green Bay to Oakland);
• Offensive linemen Kelvin Beachum (Jacksonville to New York Jets), Matt Kalil (Minnesota to Carolina), T. J. Lang (Green Bay to Detroit), Ronald Leary (Dallas to Denver), Russell Okung (Denver to Los Angeles Chargers), Riley Reiff (Detroit to Minnesota), Mike Remmers (Carolina to Minnesota), Ricky Wagner (Baltimore to Detroit), Larry Warford (Detroit to New Orleans), Andrew Whitworth (Cincinnati to Los Angeles Rams), and Kevin Zeitler (Cincinnati to Cleveland).
• Defensive linemen Calais Campbell (Arizona to Jacksonville) and Johnathan Hankins (New York Giants to Indianapolis)
• Linebackers Jabaal Sheard (New England to Indianapolis), Malcolm Smith (Oakland to San Francisco), and Manti Te'o (Los Angeles Chargers to New Orleans)
• Defensive backs A. J. Bouye (Houston to Jacksonville), Barry Church (Dallas to Jacksonville), Johnathan Cyprien (Jacksonville to Tennessee), Stephon Gilmore (Buffalo to New England), Micah Hyde (Green Bay to Buffalo), Tony Jefferson (Arizona to Baltimore), and Logan Ryan (New England to Tennessee),

The following notable trades were made during the 2017 league year:

• March 9: Jacksonville traded TE Julius Thomas to Miami in exchange for a 2017 seventh-round pick.[4]
• March 9: Miami traded T Branden Albert to Jacksonville in exchange for a 2018 seventh-round pick.[5]
• March 9: Houston traded QB Brock Osweiler, a 2018 second-round pick, and a 2017 sixth-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for a 2017 fourth-round pick.[6]
• March 9: Indianapolis traded TE Dwayne Allen and a 2017 sixth-round pick to New England in exchange for a 2017 fourth-round pick.[7]
• March 10: New Orleans traded WR Brandin Cooks and a 2017 fourth-round pick to New England in exchange for 2017 first and third-round picks.[8]
• March 10: Carolina traded DE Kony Ealy and 2017 a third-round pick to New England in exchange for a 2017 second-round pick.[9]
• March 15: Baltimore traded C Jeremy Zuttah and a 2017 sixth-round pick to San Francisco for a 2017 sixth-round pick.[10]
• April 4: Baltimore traded DT Timmy Jernigan and a 2017 third-round draft pick to Philadelphia in exchange for a 2017 third-round draft pick.[11]
• April 26: Seattle traded the contract rights of previously retired RB Marshawn Lynch and a 2018 sixth-round pick to Oakland for a 2018 fifth-round pick.[12]
• August 11: Buffalo traded WR Sammy Watkins and a 2018 sixth-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Rams for CB E. J. Gaines and a 2018 second-round pick.[13][14] That same day, the Bills traded cornerback Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a 2018 third-round draft pick.[13]

• OT Ryan Clady: Four-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro (two first-team, one second-team), and Super Bowl 50 champion. Clady played for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets during his nine-year career.
• WR Andre Johnson: Seven time Pro Bowler and four time All-Pro (two first-team, two second-team). Johnson played for the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, and Tennessee Titans during his 14-year career.
• T Jake Long: Four time Pro Bowler, two time All-Pro (one first-team, one second-team), and first overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft. Long played for the Miami Dolphins, St. Louis Rams, Atlanta Falcons, and Minnesota Vikings during his 10-year career.
• LB Robert Mathis: Five time Pro Bowler, two time All Pro (one first team, one second team), and Super Bowl XLI champion. Played his entire 14-year career for the Indianapolis Colts.
• QB Tony Romo: Four time Pro Bowler and 2014 second-team All-Pro, Romo played his entire 14-year career with the Dallas Cowboys. Shortly after his retirement, Romo joined CBS as a lead NFL game analyst.[15]
• WR Steve Smith Sr.: Five time Pro Bowler and three time All Pro (two first team, one second team). Smith played for the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens during his 16-year career.
• QB Michael Vick: Four time Pro Bowler, first overall pick of the 2001 NFL Draft, and 2010 Comeback Player of the Year. Played for the Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and Pittsburgh Steelers during his 13-year career.
• LB DeMarcus Ware: Nine-time Pro Bowler, seven time All-Pro (four first team, three second team), and Super Bowl 50 champion. Ware played for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos during his 12-year career.
• WR Roddy White: Four-time Pro Bowler and 2010 First-Team All-Pro. White played for the Atlanta Falcons during his entire 11-year career.
• DT Vince Wilfork: Five time Pro Bowler, four time All-Pro (one first team, three second team), and two-time Super Bowl Champion (XXXIX and XLIX). Wilfork played for the New England Patriots and Houston Texans during his 13-year career.

The 2017 NFL Draft was held on April 27–29 in Philadelphia. The Cleveland Browns selected Myles Garrett with the first overall pick.

Cortez Kennedy

Kennedy, a defensive tackle who spent 11 years with the Seattle Seahawks from 1990 to 2000 and had his number 96 retired by the organization, was a member of the Hall of Fame's class of 2012. He died May 23 at the age of 48, from suspected cardiac problems.

Yale Lary

The special teams standout and defensive back played 11 nonconsecutive seasons for the Detroit Lions from 1952 to 1964, winning three championships, and was a member of the Hall's class of 1979. He died May 11 at the age of 86.

Dan Rooney

was chairman and plurality owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and one of the sons of founding owner Art Rooney, Sr. Having been officially involved with the franchise since 1960, Rooney was a part of all six of the Steelers' Super Bowl victories. In addition to this, Rooney was considered an active and progressive owner in the league's operations, most famously by successfully pushing for the Rooney Rule, an affirmative action policy requiring all NFL franchises to interview persons of color for head coaching vacancies. Concurrently with his role with the Steelers, Rooney also served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 2009 to 2014. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, making him and his father the second father-son duo in the Hall behind Tim and Wellington Mara (to whom the Rooneys are related by marriage). Rooney died on April 13 at the age of 84.

Y. A. Tittle

Tittle, a quarterback, spent 16 seasons in professional football, two in the All-America Football Conference and 14 in the NFL. He played for the Baltimore (Green) Colts, San Francisco 49ers (as a member of the Million Dollar Backfield) and New York Giants throughout his career. He set several passing records during his time in the NFL and is credited for inventing the alley-oop. He was never able to win a league championship despite three consecutive appearances in the game for the Giants, who retired his number 14. He was a member of the Hall's class of 1971. Tittle died October 8 at the age of 90 from complications due to dementia.

The following games were moved or canceled because of severe weather, by way of flexible scheduling, or for other reasons:

• Preseason Week 4: Due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, the Dallas–Houston game was eventually canceled. The 2017 Texas Governor's Cup preseason game, originally scheduled to be played at Houston's NRG Stadium, was initially moved to the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium, before the NFL opted instead to cancel the game altogether in order to allow Texans' players and coaches to reunite with their families and assist with the relief efforts.[26]
• Week 1: Due to the threat posed from Hurricane Irma, the Tampa Bay–Miami game was rescheduled to Week 11 (November 19), when both teams were originally scheduled to have their bye week. Both teams therefore had their bye rescheduled to Week 1.[27] This is the first time a hurricane forced a postponement of an NFL game since 2008 when Baltimore and Houston had their game postponed due to Hurricane Ike.
• Week 7: The Cincinnati–Pittsburgh game, originally scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. ET, was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET, still on CBS. In addition, the Carolina–Chicago game was cross-flexed from Fox to CBS, still at 1:00 p.m. ET.[28]
• Week 12: The New Orleans–Los Angeles Rams game, originally scheduled to start at 4:05 p.m. ET on Fox, was cross-flexed and moved to 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS. In addition, the Tennessee–Indianapolis game was cross-flexed from CBS to Fox, still at 1:00 p.m. ET.[29]
• Week 13: The Carolina–New Orleans game, originally scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. ET, was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET, still on Fox. In addition, the Denver–Miami game was cross-flexed from CBS to Fox, still at 1:00 p.m. ET.[29]
• Week 14: The Dallas–New York Giants game, originally scheduled to start at 4:25 p.m. ET, was moved to 1:00 p.m. ET, still on Fox. In addition, the Seattle–Jacksonville game, originally scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. ET, was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET, still on Fox.[30]
• Week 15: The Houston–Jacksonville game was cross-flexed from CBS to Fox, still at 1:00 p.m. ET.[31]
• Week 17: All games with playoff implications were moved to a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff, with no change in network assignment: Cincinnati–Baltimore, Buffalo–Miami, Jacksonville–Tennessee, Carolina–Atlanta, and New Orleans–Tampa Bay. Additionally, no Sunday Night Football game was scheduled, marking the first time since 1977 that the regular season play concluded with no primetime game. The NFL stated that it did not want to schedule a primetime game that could potentially lose its playoff implications due to the events of the afternoon games, as well as conflicting with New Year's Eve programming.[32][33]

During a September 22, 2017 speech, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, made controversial remarks criticizing the practice of taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem—a practice popularized by Colin Kaepernick in 2016 as part of an effort to protest alleged racial inequality and police brutality. Trump suggested that those who partake in the practice were disrespecting the country's heritage, and asked his audience, "wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'" During the subsequent weekend of games, over 200 players protested the remarks, by either kneeling or locking arms during the playing of the national anthem. The Pittsburgh Steelers (with the exception of offensive tackle and former Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva), Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks chose to not go out on field at all during the anthem.[34][35][36]

On December 17, 2017, Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers, announced he was putting the team up for sale.[37][38] Richardson had previously indicated the team would be put up for sale after his death (since his only living son left the team in 2009),[39] but an exposé in Sports Illustrated accused Richardson of paying hush money to cover up questionable conduct, including racial slurs and sexually suggestive requests of employees, hastening Richardson's decision.[40] The Panthers' lease on Bank of America Stadium expired after the 2018 season,[41] which would have allowed any incoming owner to relocate the team out of the Carolinas to another market of their choice without penalty had they so desired.

Wild Card Round

• The Tennessee Titans became the third away team in NFL history to have rallied from at least 18 points down to win a playoff game, joining the 1957 Detroit Lions and the 1972 Dallas Cowboys[71]
• Marcus Mariota attempted a pass, which was deflected by Darrelle Revis, back into the hands of Mariota who promptly ran it in for a touchdown, making him the first quarterback in NFL postseason history to complete a touchdown pass to himself.[72] This also made him the first player in the Super Bowl era with passing and receiving touchdowns in the same playoff game.[73]

Super Bowl LII

• Super Bowl LII marked an NFL record eighth Super Bowl appearance for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick a QB/head coach duo.[74]
• It also marked the New England Patriots' 10th Super Bowl appearance, extending their own record.[74]
• Tom Brady's career 357 pass attempts, 235 completions, 2,576 passing yards, and 18 passing touchdowns in the Super Bowl are all records.[74]
• Tom Brady set the single-game record for most passing yards in a Super Bowl with 505.[74]
• The 33 points scored by the Patriots were the most points scored by the losing team in a Super Bowl.[74]
• The Patriots set Super Bowl records for most total yards in a game with 613, the fewest punts in a game with zero, and the most passing yards with 505.[74]
• Jake Elliott set the Super Bowl rookie record by kicking a 46-yard field goal.[75]
• The Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles combined for several Super Bowl records including, 42 first downs passing, 1,151 total yards, 874 passing yards, fewest punts in the game with one, and four missed PAT conversions. The 1,151 total yards set a record for the most combined yards in any NFL game (regular or post-season)[74]

The 7th Annual NFL Honors, saluting the best players and plays from 2017 season, was held at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 3, 2018.[77]

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

The following were named the top performers during the 2017 season:

The Atlanta Falcons played their first season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, after playing in the Georgia Dome for the previous 25 seasons. The Georgia Dome was demolished by implosion on the morning of November 20, 2017.

On January 12, 2017, the San Diego Chargers exercised their option to relocate to Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Chargers. They joined the Los Angeles Rams as tenants in their new stadium, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California when that stadium opened in 2020. Between 2017 and 2019, the Chargers played at the 30,000 seat StubHub Center in Carson, California, the smallest venue (in terms of number of seats) the league has used for a full season since 1956.[2]

On January 19, 2017, the Oakland Raiders filed paperwork to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFL officially approved the Raiders relocation to Las Vegas on March 27. Unlike the Chargers, the Raiders remained at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum through the 2018 and 2019 seasons while Allegiant Stadium was built, with the team moving to Nevada in 2020.[137]

The Los Angeles Rams, who had capped season ticket sales at 55,000 for the 2017 season, announced to have 60,128 spectators in the first home game on week 1. However, reports estimate that spectators only filled a third of the 93,607 seats of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[138] The Los Angeles Chargers did not sell out their week 2 game at the StubHub Center, which was never expanded to 30,000 seats as originally stated and has typically had less than 26,000 fans in attendance.[139] When the StubHub Center was at capacity, the majority of the fans present were supporters of the opposing team. Among the most notable examples was the October 1 game against Philadelphia Eagles being a mainly pro-Philadelphia crowd.[140][141]

The San Francisco 49ers reported a Week 3 attendance total that exceeded the capacity of Levi's Stadium, even as wide swaths of empty seats were seen throughout the game.[142] This followed similar sparse attendance for the 49ers' home opener.[143] Even the Dallas Cowboys, a team whose fan base is among the largest in the United States, played their week 13 Thursday Night Football game in front of a half-empty AT&T Stadium.[144] The lifting of the league's blackout policy was cited as one factor in the decline in ticket sales, as viewers would rather watch from the comfort of their homes, especially when weather conditions were less than ideal. At a Colts-Bills game held in blinding lake-effect snow on December 10, scalpers said they had not sold any tickets, an extreme rarity.[145] A majority of television sets in all Western New York were tuned into some portion of the game, the highest viewership for a non-Super Bowl NFL game in the region since record-keeping began.[146]

This was the fourth season under the league's broadcast contracts with its television partners. ESPN continued to air Monday Night Football, while ESPN2 simulcast ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language Monday Night Football broadcasts for the first nine weeks of the regular season; this served as filler programming for the channel until the start of its Monday-night college basketball broadcasts.[163] Along with ESPN's Wild Card game on ABC, ESPN also simulcast the 2018 Pro Bowl on ABC, marking the return of the Pro Bowl to ABC for the first time since 2003.[164]

The practice of "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games continued 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, and broadcast Super Bowl LII. This also was the second and final year of the current Thursday Night Football contract with CBS, NBC, and NFL Network.

Although never explicitly announced, the league continued the moratorium on its blackout policy, ensuring all games would be televised in the market of their home teams regardless of ticket sales.[165]

Because of fog and smoke obstruction, NBC was forced to televise large portions of two of their Sunday Night Football games from the skycam angle. Positive reception led NBC to experiment with increased usage of the angle as a primary view during its November 16 and December 14 Thursday Night Football telecasts. Because the angle distorts distance, the traditional sideline camera angle was used for close-yardage situations such as the red zone.[166]

In over-the-top rights, Amazon Video acquired non-exclusive streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television Thursday Night Football games for $50 million. These streams are exclusive to paid Amazon Prime subscribers, in contrast to Twitter, which held the rights to the same package in 2016 and had made those streams free to most of the world.[167][168]

Verizon Communications acquired international streaming rights to an NFL London Game between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, in a similar arrangement to the 2015 game that was streamed by Yahoo!—which was acquired by Verizon in 2017. The game was streamed by Yahoo and other Verizon-owned platforms, including AOL, go90, and Complex.[169][170] NFL Network remains a partner with Twitter for online content, including its new streaming news program NFL Blitz Live.[171][172] The NFL also reached a deal with Facebook in September 2017 to offer video highlights following games, and streaming programs on the service's new Watch platform.[173]

This was the final season of the NFL's exclusive mobile streaming contract with Verizon Wireless; the league intended to no longer have a single exclusive partner going forward, citing changes to viewing habits.[174] On December 11, 2017, the NFL announced that it had agreed to a new 5-year, $2.5 billion digital rights agreement with Verizon, allowing it to stream in-market Sunday afternoon games, as well as all nationally televised games, across its mobile platforms. Unlike the previous deal, these streams are no longer exclusive to Verizon Wireless subscribers, as Verizon planned to leverage the divisions of its digital media subsidiary Oath (including the aforementioned Yahoo) as a platform to promote these streams to a larger audience, as well as other digital content and expanded highlights rights. As part of the agreement, Verizon began allowing access to its existing mobile streams to non-customers for the 2017-18 playoffs.[175] As the new contract is non-exclusive, the NFL's television partners may negotiate to add the mobile streaming rights that were reserved to Verizon under the previous contract; NBC was the first to do so.[176]

Two new international digital rights deals led to user criticism over their quality of service. In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket shifted from distribution through television providers to the over-the-top provider DAZN, while in Europe, Deltatre took over European distribution of NFL Game Pass and launched new mobile apps. Both services faced criticism over their streaming quality, while Delatre's app faced criticism for having bugs and initially lacking features seen in the previous version of the platform. The Independent exposed that Deltatre had also issued an internal e-mail instructing its employees to give the apps 5-star reviews. DAZN subsequently announced that it would return to distributing Sunday Ticket through Canadian television providers in addition to their OTT service.[177][178]

This was the final season of the NFL's existing national radio contract with Westwood One.[179] Entravision (in the last year of a three-year deal)[180] and ESPN Deportes Radio split Spanish broadcast rights.[181]

The league has sought to reduce the number of standard commercial breaks (media timeouts) on its telecasts from 21 to 16, four in each quarter, with each break extended by one additional 30-second commercial. One particular scenario the league sought to eliminate is the "double-up," in which a network cuts to a commercial after a scoring play, then airs the kickoff, and again goes to commercial before play from scrimmage resumes. Under the proposal, the league will allow networks to cut to commercial during instant replay reviews, which it had not been allowed to do before. Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the changes are being made in an attempt to consolidate downtime between the actual game play so that there are fewer and less noticeable interruptions; he does not expect the changes to have an appreciable impact on the real-time length of a game, which currently clocks in at slightly over three hours.[182]

The NFL has also, as a trial, lifted its ban on the broadcast of commercials for distilled spirits during its telecasts. However, they are subject to restrictions; a maximum of four liquor ads may be broadcast per-game, along with two per-pregame and postgame show. These ads may not contain football-related themes or target underage viewers, and must contain a "prominent social responsibility message".[183][184]

Tony Romo, who announced his retirement as a player on April 4, 2017, joined CBS, where he replaced Phil Simms as lead color commentator. Simms and Nate Burleson, who comes over from NFL Network, will replace Tony Gonzalez and Bart Scott on CBS's pregame show, The NFL Today.[185][186] Jay Cutler also announced his retirement from professional football on May 5 and was slated to join Fox as a color analyst for its NFL coverage;[187] he later rescinded that announcement in August and joined the Miami Dolphins.[188] Gonzalez will move to Fox, where he will join Fox NFL Kickoff; upon his departure, Gonzalez stated that he wished to pursue opportunities closer to his home in California, rather than travel to New York weekly to appear on CBS. James Lofton, coming over from radio, will replace Solomon Wilcots as a CBS analyst.[189]

On May 31, 2017, it was announced that Mike Tirico would replace Al Michaels on play-by-play on NBC's portion of the Thursday Night Football package, joined by Cris Collinsworth.[190] The NFL had previously required this role to be filled by NBC's lead broadcast team of Michaels and Collinsworth; Tirico called a limited slate of games in 2016, including several NBC-broadcast games as a fill-in for Michaels (who voluntarily took several games off due to the increased number he was calling that season), and as part of a secondary team for selected games the TNF package.[191][192] He will also succeed Bob Costas as the lead studio host for NBC.[193][194] However, due to its proximity to the 2018 Winter Olympics (where he also succeeded Bob Costas as lead host), Tirico did not participate in NBC's Super Bowl LII coverage.[195]

Beth Mowins became the second woman to call play-by-play for a national NFL broadcast, following Gayle Sierens in 1987, when she served as play-by-play announcer for the nightcap in ESPN's Week 1 Monday Night doubleheader, with Rex Ryan as her color commentator.[196] In an unusual case of a broadcaster working for two networks in the same season, Mowins also called a regional game for CBS in Weeks 3, 15 and 17, with Jay Feely as her partner.[197]

Also, this would end up being the last season for the Monday Night Football broadcast team of Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden, and Lisa Salters. Gruden would return to coaching the next year for the Oakland Raiders, while McDonough would return to doing College Football for ESPN, although Salters will still be on MNF. McDonough will be replaced by Joe Tessitore, who has done work for ESPN as a College Football announcer, like McDonough, while Jason Witten, who would end up retiring after this season, will replace Gruden, with Booger McFarland, being added as a field analyst.

• 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.