Despite the success of Netflix's eight-episode docuseries “Quarterback” and "support from its stars," the creators -- Pro Football HOFer Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions in partnership with NFL Films -- have “struggled to get another group of quarterbacks to sign on for the second iteration before the league kicks off its regular season,” according to Julian Sancton of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Netflix’s bet on the first season's three quarterbacks -- Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota -- “paid off handsomely, both narratively and commercially.” The series “ranked third among original streaming shows (and fifth among all titles) for its opening week” with "3.3 million views and 21.4 million hours viewed." In late August, Manning said that the deadline for “nailing down the principals was ‘approaching very soon.’” Manning: “I think maybe some guys are thinking that it is going to be a distraction, even though I told a couple of them, ‘I guarantee you’ll win the Super Bowl like Mahomes if you do it.’” Sancton noted the series is “more involved than any previous effort to document the pro football life.” But aside from the three quarterbacks, their head coaches and "whomever they chose to tell, nobody else knew about the project," a “testament to the discretion of the NFL Films crew.” Netflix has “still not officially greenlit” a second season (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/6).
INSIDE LOOK: In Philadelphia, Matt Breen wrote when Eagles C Jason Kelce planned to retire two years ago, he wanted his farewell season to be a "documentary centered around the theme of what it is like for a professional athlete to walk away.” The project was filmed during the 2021 season by Philadelphia-based documentarians Don Argott and Sheena Joyce, who own 9.14 Pictures. Kelce “reconsidered his plans" and "decided to put his retirement on hold.” So the documentary -- titled “Kelce” and debuting Monday on Prime Video -- "became a new movie as they kept the cameras rolling.” The film gives “insight into the pain Kelce lives with as a result of 12 NFL seasons” and “what it takes him to get his body ready for another Sunday.” It also includes "reflections from Kelce about the dangers of CTE, the risks of stretching out his career, and his family’s thoughts about his retirement,” which “keeps getting delayed.” The documentary provides a “behind-the-mask look at what makes an NFL player tick and the commitment required from an entire family to keep a career churning.” It “details the weight Kelce feels about deciding when to walk away” and the “burden his family shares as he stays on the field." Kelce has “been in the public eye for years,” yet, the film “still uncovered layers to the football star.” That is “largely because of the access the filmmakers had.” The film was Kelce’s idea, so it “didn’t seem like much of a surprise" that Argott and Joyce were "granted so much access to Kelce and his family” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/4).
