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The NFL offseason has been chugging along, and the start of the season seems right around the corner. But one important milestone has been missing, as we still don't know which team is going to appear on ‘Hard Knocks.' The popular HBO show has usually announced its team for the upcoming season by now, but not this year.
According to Peter King of NBC Sports, there's a reason for the delay.
“NFL Films—which drives the bus on the “Hard Knocks” process—seems to be a little bit behind in the team selection, in part because of all the programming associated with the league’s 100th season in 2019.”
The NFL is going all out to celebrate its 100th season, so this makes some sense. As King points out, further complicating things is the fact that so few teams are eligible. A team can only be forced to participate if they didn't make the playoffs last year, didn't hire a new coach and haven't been on the show in the last ten years.
For 2019, that leaves only a handful of teams. The eligible participants are the Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, and New York Giants. The Raiders would obviously be highly entertaining, with all the drama that Jon Gruden has brought to the team. Viewers would certainly love to watch Antonio Brown's transition to a new city up close.
“My feeling is that, far and away, the most attractive team this year is Oakland, because Jon Gruden is a TV star, and the specter of Antonio Brown in camp will be TV-worthy, and because, well, because the Raiders are inherently so interesting.”
