If you're a hardcore football nerd such as myself, you've always wondered about what goes on behind the closed doors of a professional team.
You think about how players interact in the locker room, wonder what a coach says to a receiver when he runs the wrong route, what goes on in meeting rooms when the GM and coaches are discussing roster cut-downs. It's all so fascinating, yet it's kept largely in the dark, away from the public's curious eyes.
HBO's "Hard Knocks" is a show that takes you behind the curtain and gives you a comprehensive look at what training camp looks like in the NFL. It's also some of the most intriguing stuff on TV right now.
HBO made a perfect choice in the team they chose to film. The Cleveland Browns have long been the laughingstock of the league, but come into this season with a new sense of hope for the first time in a long time. They hired former Kansas City Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey, a man respected around the NFL for his scouting chops, and boy, does Cleveland need help there. They brought in veteran QB Tyrod Taylor, who will significantly improve their turnover ratio (they were -28 in 2017, which was the worst in the league by a good margin).
In the show, Taylor is a guy who stands out as a leader of men. He doesn't get enough credit from fans around the league. The Browns also drafted an exciting young QB in Baker Mayfield, the former Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma with the #1 overall pick. He's a stud in the making, and watching his personality shine through has been awesome to follow.
Head coach Hue Jackson gets a ton of focus on the show. He's only won one game over the past two seasons. Watching how he attempts to turn his team around has made for very compelling TV. I'm not sure if he's the right guy for the job, and wouldn't be surprised if he's gone by next season.
He's very likable, I just don't know if head coach is the best role for him. He's got a lot on his plate, changing the culture of a place that has lost so much, they've almost forgotten what it's like to regularly win. Not to mention, he has to juggle the big personalities of his two intimidating coordinators, Gregg Williams and Todd Haley. Both have been head coaches before, and likely have their own ways they like things to be run. We'll see if everyone gets on board with Jackson's message.
Former first-round pick Corey Coleman was traded in the opening minutes of the second episode. He walks into Jackson's office and asks why he's running with the second team. Jackson tells him to go talk to Haley. Coleman says trade me if you're not gonna play me. And they did just that.
Their fourth-round pick WR Antonio Callaway was cited for marijuana possession, and the show doesn't hold anything back. We're shown parts of the incident itself, Callaway hiding the situation from his coaches, even when they ask him if there's anything wrong, to Dorsey and Jackson sitting down with Callaway and going over expectations after they learn about the situation, all the way up to his punishment, playing every offensive snap in their first preseason game.
There was also a fight at training camp on Tuesday and free agent WR and notorious Locker Room Cancer Dez Bryant is coming in for a visit this week. Both will likely be featured on next week's episode.
I haven't even mentioned Myles Garrett's love of poetry, David Njoku's meditation, Josh Gordon's excursion to rehab, Christian Kirksey's love of drumming, Jarvis Landry's expletive-filled motivational speech, or Carl Nassib doling out financial advice to his teammates. These are the kind of moments that are rare, showing a human side of NFL players that we don't get to see as often as we'd like.
It's crazy the amount of access "Hard Knocks" is able to get and that's why it's the most compelling thing on TV right now.
