2015 NFL season

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The 2015 NFL season was the 96th in the league's history, but it wore a special number: 50. Not on a jersey, not on a scoreboard, but on a logo. For the first time, the Super Bowl shed its Roman numerals and went with Arabic figures. The reason, according to Jaime Weston, the league's vice president of brand and creative, was surprisingly mundane. Graphic designers simply could not produce an aesthetically pleasing logo using only the Roman numeral 'L'. So Super Bowl 50 it was, branded in gold, launching a season saturated with gold-themed promotions to honor five decades of championship football.

  The season opened on the 10th of September, 2015, when the defending champion New England Patriots hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers and won 28-21. It closed on the 7th of February, 2016, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, when the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10. Between those two games, players shattered records week after week, a franchise relocated, young players walked away from million-dollar contracts, and the league grappled with deflategate, domestic incidents, and the deaths of legends. This is the story of that sprawling, consequential year.

• 2. The Deflategate Reckoning

  ›

  The season had barely begun when the NFL finalized its punishment in the so-called Deflategate scandal. The probe had been led by Ted Wells, an external investigator appointed by the league, and its conclusions set off months of legal combat. The underlying allegation was that the New England Patriots had used footballs below the league's inflation guidelines during the previous season's AFC Championship Game. In May, the league announced its penalties: the Patriots were fined $1 million, stripped of their first-round pick in the 2016 draft, and stripped of their fourth-round pick in 2017. Quarterback Tom Brady, whom the league's report concluded was likely aware of a scheme to manipulate football inflation, received a four-game suspension. Two locker room attendants, John Jastremski and Jim McNally, were suspended indefinitely.

  Brady immediately appealed his suspension. Commissioner Roger Goodell heard the appeal personally and confirmed the four-game ban on the 28th of July. The league, anticipating resistance, simultaneously filed suit in civil court against the NFL Players Association to lock in the punishment. The case went before Judge Richard M. Berman, who pushed hard for a settlement. When none came, Berman ruled in Brady's favor, vacating the suspension. Brady played in the season opener. The two locker room employees were reinstated in September under the condition that neither could have any role in handling or preparing game balls. The controversy also prompted the league to overhaul its ball-handling protocols: officials at random games would measure the PSI of 24 footballs at halftime, and two officials rather than one would inspect ball inflation before kickoff.

• 3. Players Walking Away

  ›

  Patrick Willis announced his retirement in March at age 30. Regarded as one of the finest middle linebackers in the game, Willis had played in just six games in 2014 while battling a toe injury. Eight years of chronic foot problems had taken their toll, and he chose his long-term health over his career. Days later, his San Francisco 49ers teammate Chris Borland made the same call. Borland had posted 107 tackles in his rookie season of 2014, starting eight games after being selected in the third round of that year's draft. His reason was different and, for the league, more unsettling. Borland cited concern over the potential long-term impact on his brain health. A third 49er, offensive tackle Anthony Davis, announced his retirement in June. Davis had missed four games in 2014 with his first diagnosed concussion and said he wanted to give his brain and body a chance to heal.

  The departures extended beyond San Francisco. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds walked away from tens of millions of dollars in free agency offers to devote more time to his Jehovah's Witnesses faith. Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker, who had been the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft, said he had lost the burning desire necessary to play the game for a living. None of these players had reached 30. Collectively, their decisions forced a public reckoning with the physical and neurological costs of professional football.

• 4. Firsts on the Sideline

  ›

  Sarah Thomas became the NFL's first female on-field official when the league hired her in April. Thomas had already broken ground at the college level, becoming the first woman to officiate a major college football game and the first to work a bowl game. She joined the league as a line judge. The same year, Jen Welter was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as a coaching intern, making her the first female coach in NFL history. Welter worked with the team's inside linebackers through the offseason and preseason. Her internship with the Cardinals ended after the team's third preseason game on the 30th of August.

  Both milestones arrived in the same season, giving 2015 a historic claim beyond its anniversary branding. Also notable among officials: long-serving referee Bill Leavy retired after the season. On the 13th of May, 2015, the NFL promoted line judge John Hussey to the referee position. The league also hired Walt Coleman IV, son of referee Walt Coleman, as a side judge.

• 5. Records Falling Weekly

  ›

  Marcus Mariota completed his NFL debut with a perfect 158.3 passer rating, becoming the first quarterback ever to do so, and at 21 years and 318 days old he was also the youngest to post a perfect rating, surpassing Robert Griffin III. He threw four touchdown passes in the first half of that game, another first. By Week 3, he had thrown eight touchdowns in his first three games, tying a record set by Mark Rypien in 1988.

  Peryton Manning's milestones arrived with metronomic regularity. He reached 70,000 regular season passing yards in Week 2, becoming only the second quarterback ever to do so after Brett Favre. He hit 6,000 pass completions in Week 3. In Week 10, he surpassed Favre as the NFL's all-time leader in regular season passing yards. At Super Bowl 50, Manning, then 39 years old, became the oldest quarterback ever to start a Super Bowl, breaking the record held by John Elway, who had started Super Bowl XXXIII at 38.

  Antonio Brown set records almost every week of the second half of the season. He became the first player in NFL history to record three straight 100-catch seasons. He set a new NFL record with 265 receptions over two consecutive seasons, breaking Marvin Harrison's mark of 354 over three seasons. He finished the year as the first wide receiver ever to record at least 1,700 yards from scrimmage in back-to-back seasons. Drew Brees, meanwhile, completed his sixth consecutive season with at least 4,500 passing yards, a record he set on his own. Kansas City Chiefs kicker Adam Vinatieri became the third placekicker in NFL history to make 500 career field goals, joining Morten Andersen and Gary Anderson.

• 6. Super Bowl 50 and Denver

  ›

  Super Bowl 50 was the 50th championship game, held on the 7th of February, 2016, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10. The game was stacked with historical anomalies. Both starting quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Cam Newton, had been selected first overall in their respective NFL drafts; Manning went first in 1998 and Newton first in 2011. That was a Super Bowl first. Also a first: Denver linebacker Von Miller had gone second overall in 2011, meaning the game featured the top two picks from the same draft on opposing teams. Both head coaches, Gary Kubiak and Ron Rivera, had previously played in a Super Bowl, making this the first championship game in which both sideline leaders shared that distinction.

  Kubiak's story held particular resonance for Denver fans. He had served as John Elway's backup quarterback on the Broncos from 1983 to 1991 and had seen playing time in both Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXIV. Winning Super Bowl 50 as head coach made him the first person in NFL history to reach a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach with the same franchise. Manning, with the victory, surpassed Elway as the oldest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl. He also became the first quarterback in history to lead two different teams to Super Bowl victories, having previously guided the Indianapolis Colts to the title in Super Bowl XLI. Von Miller was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

• 7. The League Mourns Its Legends

  ›

  Ed Sabol died on the 9th of February at age 98. Sabol had founded NFL Films in 1962 and pioneered a documentary approach to capturing football that many credit as a major force behind the sport's surge in mainstream popularity. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Chuck Bednarik died on the 31st of March at age 89. Bednarik had been the first player selected in the 1949 NFL draft and spent fourteen seasons at linebacker and center for the Philadelphia Eagles. He won championships with Philadelphia in 1949 and in 1960 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1967.

  Ken Stabler died on the 8th of July at age 69. His fifteen-year career as a quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers, and New Orleans Saints had spanned the 1970s and 1980s. He was named league MVP, led the Raiders to their first championship in Super Bowl XI, and was named to the 1970s All-Decade Team. Frank Gifford died on the 9th of August, just a week short of his 85th birthday. Gifford had played twelve years with the New York Giants in the 1950s and 1960s, earned four All-Pro selections, played in eight Pro Bowls, and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. He then spent 27 seasons in the booth with ABC's Monday Night Football, joining in the program's second season. Garo Yepremian, a placekicker for the Miami Dolphins and three other teams over a fourteen-year career, died on the 15th of May at age 70. He had led the league in field goal accuracy three times and was named to the 1970s All-Decade Team.

• 8. Franchise Movement and Offseason Turbulence

  ›

  During the 2015 season, three teams announced plans to move back to Los Angeles: the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams, and the San Diego Chargers. All three had previously played in Los Angeles at various points in their histories. NFL owners voted on the matter on the 12th of January, 2016, approving only the Rams' relocation by a count of 30-2. The 2015 season was therefore the Rams' final year in St. Louis.

  On the field, Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly used freshly granted general manager powers to execute a string of blockbuster trades before the season. He sent running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso, traded quarterback Nick Foles and a second-round pick in the 2016 draft to St. Louis in exchange for quarterback Sam Bradford and a pick swap, and dealt wide receiver Kenny Stills to Miami. The New Orleans Saints traded tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round pick to Seattle in exchange for center Max Unger and the Seahawks' first-round selection. Kelly's tenure in Philadelphia ended before the season was out: after the team's ninth loss left them eliminated from playoff contention with one game remaining, the Eagles fired Kelly from both his head coaching and de facto general manager roles on the 29th of December, 2015. The salary cap for the season had risen to $143.28 million per team, up from $133 million the year prior, and Jameis Winston of Florida State had been selected first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the draft held in Chicago from the 30th of April through the 2nd of May. The draft was the first held partly outdoors, with fans able to watch from Grant Park across the street from the Auditorium Theatre stage, an area the league called Draft Town.