The NFL’s ‘Hard Knocks’ Dilemma: Who Will Be the Next Subject?

The NFL is gearing up to announce the next subject for HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ documentary, and fans are eagerly awaiting the news. The documentary provides an in-depth look at an NFL team’s training camp, giving fans a unique perspective on the team’s preparation for the upcoming season.

The NFL is set to announce the next subject for ‘Hard Knocks’

Last year, the Jets were the subject of the documentary, and in 2022, it was the Lions. The Cowboys were featured in 2021, and the Rams and Chargers volunteered to participate in 2020. The Raiders were the subject in 2019, and the Browns were featured in 2018.

The announcement is expected soon, but there’s no way of knowing for certain when it will be made. The Giants will appear in an all-new version of the documentary on July 2, but this is not the notorious ‘offseason’ version of the show. This series aims to go behind the scenes with the Giants from the end of the 2023 regular season leading up to the summer.

Usually, teams show strong disinterest in participating in the offseason version, as they view the documentary as a distraction during training camp. But the NFL has a clause in their contract with HBO to force a team to participate based on certain criteria.

To force a team to participate, a team must meet three criteria: the team does not have a new head coach, the team has not made the playoffs in the previous two seasons, and the team hasn’t been on ‘Hard Knocks’ in the past 10 years. The three teams who fit the bill this offseason are the Broncos, Saints, and Bears.

The Bears have been crystal clear in previous offseasons about their disinterest in participating. At the NFL owners meetings in Orlando in late March, Bears chairman George McCaskey reiterated the team’s apathy.

But it’s hard to believe, barring a team volunteers to become the subject, that the league wouldn’t force the Bears to be the next subject of the offseason documentary. At this juncture, the Bears have built up one of the most intriguing storylines in the entire league.

Expect an announcement for the documentary soon, as a subject must be selected before the start of training camp in mid-July.

Update: The Chicago Bears have been selected to participate in Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears, NFL Films, and HBO’s unprecedented, in-depth perspective at the Chicago Bears as the team prepares for the 2024 season.

The Chicago Bears will be the subject of the next ‘Hard Knocks’ documentary

In other news, the Kansas City Chiefs are considering taking kicker Harrison Butker off kickoff duties due to new NFL rules implemented in March. The new rules dictate that any ball kicked into the ’landing zone’ from the goal line to the 20-yard line must be returned. No more fair catches. Balls that bounce from the landing zone into the end zone must either be returned or downed for a touchback.

Creating more action with actual returns could increasingly put kickers in a position where they have to tackle during a kickoff return. As Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub explained while speaking to reporters at OTAs on Thursday, their strategy will be to get the ball on the ground away from the opponent’s kick returner, allowing defenders to pursue before someone picks up the ball.

More importantly, Toub noted that the new rules and subsequent strategy, which the XFL has been using, gets the kicker involved in making a tackle more often.

“If you watch the XFL, we watched every play,” Toub said. “I bet kickers were involved in probably at least 25 to 40% of the tackles, you know, either trying to make a guy bounce back or making the tackle itself or just missing the tackle.”

Under those circumstances, Toub doesn’t want Butker frequently having to make tackles throughout the season. Fortunately for the Chiefs, they’re already set up to address this situation with safety Justin Reid as the emergency kicker.

Harrison Butker may be removed from kickoff duties due to new NFL rules