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2021 NFL season

The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games.[1] The regular season started on September 9, 2021, with defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay defeating Dallas in the NFL Kickoff Game. The regular season ended on January 9, 2022. The playoffs started on January 15 and concluded with Super Bowl LVI, the league's championship game, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on February 13, with the Los Angeles Rams defeating Cincinnati.

This article is about the American football season in the United States. For the Gaelic football season in Ireland, see 2021 National Football League (Ireland).

Regular season

September 9, 2021 (2021-09-09) – January 9, 2022 (2022-01-09)

January 15, 2022

Cincinnati Bengals

Los Angeles Rams

February 13, 2022

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Los Angeles Rams

February 6, 2022

Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, Nevada

Quarterbacks (Dallas to Chicago), Ryan Fitzpatrick (Miami to Washington), and Mitchell Trubisky (Chicago to Buffalo)

Andy Dalton

Running backs (Miami to Buffalo), Tevin Coleman (San Francisco to New York Jets), James Conner (Pittsburgh to Arizona), Kenyan Drake (Arizona to Las Vegas), Wayne Gallman (New York Giants to San Francisco), Mark Ingram II (Baltimore to Houston), Phillip Lindsay (Denver to Houston), and Damien Williams (Kansas City to Chicago)

Matt Breida

Wide receivers (Las Vegas to New England), John Brown (Buffalo to Las Vegas), Corey Davis (Tennessee to New York Jets), Will Fuller (Houston to Miami), A. J. Green (Cincinnati to Arizona), Kenny Golladay (Detroit to New York Giants), Marvin Jones (Detroit to Jacksonville), Cordarrelle Patterson (Chicago to Atlanta), Curtis Samuel (Carolina to Washington), Emmanuel Sanders (New Orleans to Buffalo), and Sammy Watkins (Kansas City to Baltimore)

Nelson Agholor

Tight ends (New Orleans to Los Angeles Chargers), Hunter Henry (Los Angeles Chargers to New England), Kyle Rudolph (Minnesota to New York Giants), and Jonnu Smith (Tennessee to New England)

Jared Cook

Offensive linemen (New York Jets to Carolina), Matt Feiler (Pittsburgh to Los Angeles Chargers), Eric Fisher (Kansas City to Indianapolis), Ted Karras (Miami to New England), Corey Linsley (Green Bay to Los Angeles Chargers), Alex Mack (Atlanta to San Francisco), Riley Reiff (Minnesota to Cincinnati), Joe Thuney (New England to Kansas City), Trai Turner (Los Angeles Chargers to Pittsburgh), Alejandro Villanueva (Pittsburgh to Baltimore), and Kevin Zeitler (New York Giants to Baltimore)

Pat Elflein

Defensive linemen (Tennessee to Cleveland), Maliek Collins (Las Vegas to Houston), Trey Hendrickson (New Orleans to Cincinnati), Justin Houston (Indianapolis to Baltimore), Melvin Ingram (Los Angeles Chargers to Pittsburgh), Malik Jackson (Philadelphia to Cleveland), Carl Lawson (Cincinnati to New York Jets), Yannick Ngakoue (Baltimore to Las Vegas), Aldon Smith (Dallas to Seattle), Solomon Thomas (San Francisco to Las Vegas), Dalvin Tomlinson (New York Giants to Minnesota), Carlos Watkins (Houston to Dallas), and J. J. Watt (Houston to Arizona)

Jadeveon Clowney

Linebackers (Denver to Chicago), Bud Dupree (Pittsburgh to Tennessee), Samson Ebukam (Los Angeles Rams to San Francisco), Kamu Grugier-Hill (Miami to Houston), Matthew Judon (Baltimore to New England), Christian Kirksey (Green Bay to Houston), Keanu Neal (Atlanta to Dallas), Kyle Van Noy (Miami to New England), Denzel Perryman (Los Angeles Chargers to Carolina), Haason Reddick (Arizona to Carolina) and Nick Vigil (Los Angeles Chargers to Minnesota)

Jeremiah Attaochu

Defensive backs (Dallas to Cincinnati), A. J. Bouye (Denver to Carolina), Justin Coleman (Detroit to Miami), Ronald Darby (Washington to Denver), Kyle Fuller (Chicago to Denver), Shaquill Griffin (Seattle to Jacksonville), Troy Hill (Los Angeles Rams to Cleveland), Mike Hilton (Pittsburgh to Cincinnati), Malik Hooker (Indianapolis to Dallas), Adoree Jackson (Tennessee to New York Giants), William Jackson III (Cincinnati to Washington), Janoris Jenkins (New Orleans to Tennessee), Rayshawn Jenkins (Los Angeles Chargers to Jacksonville), John Johnson (Los Angeles Rams to Cleveland), Lamarcus Joyner (Las Vegas to New York Jets), Damontae Kazee (Atlanta to Dallas), Desmond King (Tennessee to Houston), Jalen Mills (Philadelphia to New England), and Patrick Peterson (Arizona to Minnesota)

Chidobe Awuzie

Kicker (Detroit to Arizona)

Matt Prater

Punters (Miami to Buffalo) and Cameron Johnston (Philadelphia to Houston)

Matt Haack

Chad Adams (Replay Official)

(Line Judge)

Maia Chaka

The NFL hired Maia Chaka as its second female official (joining Sarah Thomas) and first African-American female official.[101]


NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Alberto Riveron retired, leaving two other senior vice presidents, Walt Anderson and Perry Fewell, to co-head the NFL's officiating department.[102][103] Without Riveron, multiple people in the officiating department will be making the final decisions over replay reviews instead of a single person.[104]


Replay official Carl Madsen died on October 24. He was in his 12th season as a replay official, after an extended career as an on-field official.[105]


The following officials were hired:

[107]

Overtime in preseason games was eliminated. This was the first season since in which overtime was not used in the preseason.[108]

1973

All accepted penalties by either team during consecutive extra point or two-point conversion attempts are to be enforced.

[109]

The penalty for a second forward pass from behind the line of scrimmage and for a pass thrown after the ball returns behind the line will now include a loss of down.

[110]

During kickoffs, the receiving team may have no more than nine players in the "set-up zone" (the area between 10 and 25 yards from the kickoff spot).

[111]

An expansion of the booth-to-official communication on replays, allowing replay officials to advise on "specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present and/or to address game administration issues."

[106]

Preseason[edit]

Training camps were held from late July through August.


The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was played on August 5, as Pittsburgh defeated Dallas. The two teams were previously scheduled to play the 2020 game before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[122]


Corresponding with the expansion of the regular season to 17 games, the preseason was reduced to three games per team.[1] NFC teams each hosted two preseason games and AFC teams each hosted one.[123] There was a league-wide bye week the weekend of September 4–5, between the final preseason game and the start of the regular season.


The August 28 game between Arizona and New Orleans was canceled due to Hurricane Ida.[124] This was only the second time severe weather canceled a preseason game (a 2017 Dallas–Houston game was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey).[125]

: The 2021 season began with the Kickoff Game on Thursday, September 9 with Dallas at defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay .[129] Tampa Bay won the game.

NFL Kickoff Game

: Two games were played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in 2021: New York Jets at Atlanta on October 10 and Miami at Jacksonville on October 17, with Atlanta and Jacksonville winning. The games started at 9:30 am EDT (2:30 pm BST).[130] These games marked the return to international play after previous season's international games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting overseas travel restrictions.

NFL London Games

: As has been the case since 2006, three games were scheduled for Thursday, November 25: Chicago at Detroit and Las Vegas at Dallas in the traditional daytime doubleheader, and Buffalo at New Orleans for the nightcap,[131] with Chicago, Las Vegas, and Buffalo winning.

Thanksgiving

: Two games were scheduled for Christmas Day, which landed on a Saturday in 2021: Cleveland at Green Bay as a late-afternoon game, and Indianapolis at Arizona in primetime, with Green Bay and Indianapolis winning.

Christmas Day

became the first player to start 300 career games at any position.[145]

Tom Brady

passed for 145 yards and five touchdowns, setting the record for fewest passing yards in a game with at least five passing touchdowns. The previous record of 158 yards was held by Eddie LeBaron.[146]

Jameis Winston

Week 1


Week 2


Week 3


Week 4


Week 5


Week 6


Week 7


Week 8


Week 10


Week 11


Week 12


Week 13


Week 14


Week 15


Week 16


Week 17


Week 18


Wild Card Round


Divisional Round


Conference Championships:


Super Bowl LVI

Kansas City sold naming rights to its home stadium to health insurer , renaming the facility to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. It is the first time in the stadium's 50-year history that it has had a naming rights sponsor.[273]

GEHA

Buffalo sold naming rights to its home stadium to Pittsburgh-based health insurer , resulting in the stadium being renamed Highmark Stadium.[274]

Highmark

New Orleans sold naming rights to its home stadium to casino operator , renaming the facility to the Caesars Superdome.[275]

Caesars Entertainment

Carolina changed the playing surface at from natural grass to an artificial FieldTurf surface.[276]

Bank of America Stadium

unveiled new uniforms on April 19. The uniforms are similar to their previous set, but have removed some features such as colored shoulder pads, TV numbers, side panels and outlined nameplates for a toned-down appearance. The team's trademark stripes were left as the most prominent feature.[287]

Cincinnati

will feature a new white uniform reminiscent of their uniform's 1946 design, commemorating the team's 75th anniversary. Helmet sides are divided with a thin white stripe and have corresponding numbering on either side. Jersey numbers are brown with an orange drop shadow.[288]

Cleveland

unveiled new white pants on September 20.[289]

Detroit

revealed a new throwback on August 19.[290] This throwback design is based on their 1950s all-green look, featuring green jerseys and pants, golden stripes, numbers and nameplates, and blank golden helmets with gray facemasks. Prior to the 2020 season, which featured no alternate uniforms for the team, the team used blue jersey based throwbacks as their third uniform from 2010 to 2019.[291]

Green Bay

will wear a new throwback uniform on November 28. The design pays homage to the 1956 team, featuring a three-stripe shoulder pattern and helmets with rear logo placement. This design is similar to the one found on the helmet worn with their 2010 alternate uniforms.[292]

Indianapolis

made its alternate teal jerseys its primary uniform. The team had previously used teal jerseys as the primary uniform from 1995 to 2011.[293]

Jacksonville

The revealed a modern throwback variation of their away uniforms on July 13. This design incorporates blue and yellow sleeves, similar to the ones worn on team uniforms from 1978 to 1999.[294]

Los Angeles Rams

The will wear new white pants, featuring a stripe pattern resembling their sleeve stripe pattern, with their road uniforms replacing the gray pants. However, the gray pants will be retained for their Week 6 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their Super Bowl XLVI win.[295]

New York Giants

unveiled new red throwback uniforms based on the 1994 Super Bowl team on June 30 in celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary. The uniforms, which feature white numbers with black drop shadows, are counterpart to the all-white 1994 throwback uniforms used by the team since 2018.[296]

San Francisco

DH = doubleheader; SNF = ; MNF = Monday Night Football; TNF = Thursday Night Football

Sunday Night Football