| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 8, 2022 – January 8, 2023 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | January 14, 2023 |
| Super Bowl LVII | |
| Date | February 12, 2023 |
| Site | State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | February 5, 2023 |
| Site | TBA |
The 2022 NFL season is scheduled to be the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season is scheduled to begin on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion hosting the NFL Kickoff Game and end on January 8, 2023. The playoffs are scheduled to start on January 14 and will conclude with Super Bowl LVII, the league's championship game, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12.
The Washington Football Team plans to adopt a new name prior to the season.[1]
The 2022 NFL Draft is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas on April 28–30, 2022.[2]
Notable retirements
Other retirements
Training camps are planned for late July through August.
The preseason is scheduled to begin on August 4 with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
The NFL is expected to release its regular season schedule by May 2022. The season is planned to be played over an 18-week schedule beginning on September 8. Each of the league's 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week for each team. The regular season is scheduled to end on January 8, 2023; all games during the final weekend will be intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.
Each team plays the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions), and one game against a team in another division in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their respective division the previous season.
The division pairings for 2022 are as follows:[8]
|
Four intra-conference games |
Four inter-conference games (by division) |
Fifth inter-conference games (by position) |
Highlights of the 2022 season will include:
Week 18 Two games with playoff implications will be moved to the last Saturday of the regular season, January 7 at 4:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. ET airing on ESPN and ABC. This move will be in the same manner that the final NBC Sunday Night Football game will be announced following the conclusion of Week 17. [11]
The 2022 playoffs are scheduled to begin with the Wild Card Round, with three Wild Card games played in each conference. Wild Card Weekend is planned for January 14–16, 2023. In the Divisional Round scheduled for January 21–22, the top seed in the conference will play the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams will play each other. The winners of those games will advance to the Conference Championships scheduled for January 29. Super Bowl LVII is scheduled for February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.[12]
| Team | Departing coach | Interim coach | Incoming coach | Reason for leaving | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Bears | Matt Nagy | TBA | Fired | Nagy was fired on January 10 after four seasons with the Bears. During his tenure, the Bears were 34–31 (.523) with one NFC North division title in two overall playoff appearances, both ending with first round losses.[13] | |
| Denver Broncos | Vic Fangio | TBA | Fangio was fired on January 9 after three seasons with the Broncos. During his tenure, the Broncos were 19–30 (.388) with no playoff appearances.[14] | ||
| Houston Texans | David Culley | TBA | Culley was fired on January 13 after one season with the Texans, finishing with a 4–13 (.235) record and missing the playoffs.[15] | ||
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Urban Meyer | Darrell Bevell | TBA | Meyer was fired on December 16, 2021 due to a season full of on-and off-the-field issues. During Meyer's single partial season in Jacksonville, the Jaguars were 2–11 (.154).[16][17]
Bevell, the team's offensive coordinator since 2021, was promoted to interim head coach. This is his second head coaching position, after serving as interim head coach for the Detroit Lions in 2020, where he obtained a record of 1–4 (.200). He finished out the 2021 season with a 1–3 (.250) record.[16] | |
| Las Vegas Raiders | Jon Gruden | Rich Bisaccia | TBA | Resigned | Gruden resigned on October 11, 2021 due to the publication of controversial emails prior to becoming the Raiders head coach. In Gruden's 3+ seasons during his second stint with Oakland/Las Vegas, the Raiders were 22–31 (.415) with no playoff appearances.[18][19]
Bisaccia, the team's special teams coordinator and assistant head coach since 2018, was promoted to interim head coach. This was his first head coaching position after 20 years as an assistant coach in the NFL. He finished out the 2021 regular season with a 7–5 (.583) record and playoff appearance.[20] |
| Miami Dolphins | Brian Flores | TBA | Fired | Flores was fired on January 10 after three seasons with the Dolphins. During his tenure, the Dolphins were 24–25 (.490) with no playoff appearances.[21] | |
| Minnesota Vikings | Mike Zimmer | TBA | Zimmer was fired on January 10 after eight seasons with the Vikings. During his tenure, the Vikings were 72–56–1 (.562) with two NFC North division titles in three overall playoff appearances, one NFC Championship Game appearance, and a playoff record of 2–3 (.400).[22] | ||
| New York Giants | Joe Judge | TBA | Judge was fired on January 11 after two seasons with the Giants. During his tenure, the Giants were 10–23 (.303) with no playoff appearances.[23] | ||
| Team | Position | Departing office holder | Incoming office holder | Reason for leaving | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Bears | General manager | Ryan Pace | TBA | Fired | After seven years with the Bears, Pace was fired on January 10.[13] |
| Las Vegas Raiders | Mike Mayock | TBA | After three years with the Raiders, Mayock was fired on January 17.[24] | ||
| Minnesota Vikings | Rick Spielman | TBA | After sixteen years with the Vikings and ten years as the GM, Spielman was fired on January 10.[22] | ||
| New York Giants | Dave Gettleman | Joe Schoen | Retired | After four years as the Giants GM and fourteen years total over two tenures with the team, Gettleman announced his retirement on January 10.[25]
Schoen was hired on January 21. He previously served as the assistant GM for the Buffalo Bills from 2017 to 2021 and also served for the Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins in various executive roles.[26] |
This will be the ninth and final season under the current broadcast contracts with CBS, Fox, and NBC; while ESPN will be operating under a transitory deal this season before new 11-year contracts for all four broadcasters begin in 2023.[30] This includes "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of the conference of the visiting team. NBC will continue to air Sunday Night Football, the Kickoff Game, and the Thanksgiving night game. And also continuing from the previous season, ESPN's rights to Monday Night Football also allow ABC to simulcast a doubleheader on the final Saturday of the season. Under ESPN's 2022 transitory deal, there will also be one Monday Night Football doubleheader on ESPN and ABC and an International Series game streamed on ESPN+.[30]
The 2022 season will be the first year in which Thursday Night Football will exclusively stream on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch. Fox and the NFL Network opted out of its final season of their 2018–2022 TNF deal, allowing Amazon to take over one season earlier before their original 2023–2033 TNF agreement went into effect.[31] NFL Network will continue to televise select late-season Saturday games.[32]
This will be the final season under DirecTV's deal for exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market sports package. DirecTV has held exclusive rights since the package's launch in 1994. DirecTV executives have questioned the current value of NFL Sunday Ticket after losing money for the past few years. They cite the fact that they have only been able to attract half of the subscribers needed to break even on the package, and that the league has increased moving games into Monday night, Thursday night, Saturday, and the Sunday morning window for the International Series. During an interview with CNBC in September 2021, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suggested that NFL Sunday Ticket "maybe will be more attractive on the digital platform".[33]