NFL fans got to watch Patrick Mahomes’ journey to his second championship in Quarterback on Netflix this summer. But executive producer Peyton Manning can’t seem to find subjects for the docuseries’ second season.
Manning told The Hollywood Reporter this week that he’s “swallowing (his) pride” after being told no by several QBs. And the deadline is approaching rapidly to settle on a cast and begin shooting season two.
Manning also said that his media company Omaha Productions tried to do Quarterback with Netflix in 2021. But they couldn’t get enough QBs to say yes that year, either.
So far in 2023, high-profile QBs like Daniel Jones and Jalen Hurts (twice) have said no to Manning and Netflix. It appears the most interesting players are shying away from the attention that comes with Quarterback. Joe Burrow said the timing wasn’t right for him, but both Boomer Esiason and Peter King indicated Burrow might be featured in season two.
Even if Burrow was a yes, that leaves two QBs to be cast. And on top of the famous NFC East gunslingers, lesser QBs like Justin Fields and Sam Howell turned the show down as well.
It’s clear many NFL players are nervous to have cameras and extra attention around them, but Manning said he would have done the series as a player.
“If a quarterback that I respected told me, ‘Hey, trust me, we’re going to do right by you, you are not going to regret it, we’re going to cut out anything you don’t want in there, you won’t even know we’re there,’” Manning said, “then I probably would have said, ‘Yeah, I might as well do it.’ ”
If Manning has his way, viewers won’t know who he casts in Quarterback until it drops on Netflix next summer. First, he has to get enough yeses to produce the show.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.