When I first signed up to review the second season of Netflix’s Quarterback, I figured I’d have something profound to say about the docuseries.
If I had to guess, it would have been something about how access affects filmmakers’ ability to paint a complete picture in such projects. Perhaps it would have been something about the outsized role that the quarterback position plays in American culture. Maybe — if I was feeling generous — I would have praised the series’ return to form after last year’s underwhelming Receiver, which I admittedly gave up on due to overwhelming amount of George Kittle.
But as I did my best to formulate some sort of self-serious think piece while devouring the seven-episode series like a regular-season Sunday slate, there was just one coherent thought I kept coming back to: God, I’ve missed football.
Like most American sports fans, my fall — and, to be honest, my calendar — revolves around football. Every Thursday through Monday is a constant blur of fantasy lineups, prop bets, pregame shows, postgame shows, and national showcases. The rest of the week is spent preparing for my upcoming five-day binge. And thanks to free agency, the NFL Draft and even the schedule release, my football obsession is able to keep me distracted from the rest of my responsibilities until the NBA Playoffs pick up in mid-May.
And yet, despite devoting a disproportionate amount of my life to football — and primarily the NFL — I always find myself feeling out of the loop this time of the year. Who did the Cowboys draft again? Which team is supposed to be this season’s sleeper? No seriously, what’s the Browns’ plan at quarterback?
Quarterback won’t necessarily answer these questions, but it will motivate you to search for them. It’s somehow simultaneously a light but informative watch, with its primary selling points being the access it provides and the permission that it gives you to once again consume yourself in America’s pastime.
For the uninitiated, the series is filmed during the previous NFL season, focusing on the ups and downs of three selected quarterback. While there had been issues with how many players at the position would be willing to participate (hence last year’s Receiver series), this season’s casting proved superb with Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins serving as the stars.
Each of the three signal-callers find themselves at different points in their respective careers, providing an interesting contrast between all three of their professional and personal lives. Each episode typically begins with quick-hitters focused on a specific theme —”Beautiful Minds” and “Stumbling Blocks” are among the episode title — before spending extended periods of time with each of the three quarterbacks.
The pacing proves superb, as you never grow too tired of any of the main characters. By time an extended segment on Burrow wraps up, the show feels rejuvenated by making its return to Atlanta or Detroit, with none of the three players feeling over or underexposed throughout the series.
If one star emerges from the series, I believe it will be Goff, primarily because he’s likely the quarterback that viewers will be least familiar with entering the series. Nevertheless, the Lions quarterback’s relationship with his wife, Christen Harper, shines throughout each episode, as does his connection with head coach Dan Campbell, his teammates and the city of Detroit.
Burrow and Cousins are great too, even as each deals with disappointing seasons and in Cousins’ case, getting benched (which, unfortunately, isn’t shown in real-time). Two scenes that specifically stand out as highlights: Burrow and star receiver Ja’Marr Chase brunching with their parents while reflecting on the bond their families have built dating back to their shared time at LSU and an unlikely montage of Cousins highlights set to Creed’s “Higher.”
The series doesn’t run toward drama but embraces it as it comes, whether it be Burrow’s house being broken into during a win over the Cowboys, Cousins’ benching in Atlanta or the Lions’ once-promising season ending with a Divisional Round upset loss. If I have one primary gripe, it’s that the final episode fell a little flat, which may have been reflective of the Bengals, Lions and Falcons’ seasons more than anything else (Season 1 of Quarterback ended with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl).
As I inhaled the seven episodes over the course of 24 hours that I had originally planned to spread out during a holiday weekend, I finally arrived at my profound thought: Move over Hard Knocks, there’s a new preseason favorite in town. Then it occurred to me that there’s no such thing as too much football content in 2025. But regardless of what type of football fan you are, I can’t recommend Quarterback enough, as it’s the perfect high quality programming to bridge the gap between May’s minicamp updates and August’s training camp excitement.