2016 NFL season

Player movements and retirements

The 2016 NFL league year began on March 9, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. ET. On March 7 clubs started to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who became unrestricted free agents upon the expiration of their 2015 contracts two days later. On March 9, clubs exercised options for 2016 on players who have option clauses in their 2015 contracts, submitted qualifying offers to their restricted free agents with expiring contracts and to whom desire to retain a Right of Refusal/Compensation, submitted a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2015 contracts and who have fewer than three accrued season of free agent credit, and teams were required to be under the salary cap, using the "Top-51" definition (in which the 51 highest-paid players on the team's payroll must have a collective salary cap hit below the actual cap). All 2015 players contracts expired and trading period for 2016 begin.

Free agency

A total of 496 players were eligible for some form of free agency at the beginning of the free agency period. In addition, a number of highly paid players were released after the start of the league year to allow their teams to regain space under the salary cap. Among the high-profile players who changed teams via free agency were cornerbacks Josh Norman (from Panthers to Redskins), Janoris Jenkins (Rams to Giants), Prince Amukamara (Giants to Jaguars), Sean Smith (from Chiefs to Raiders) and Casey Hayward (Packers to Chargers); safeties Eric Weddle (Chargers to Ravens), Rodney McLeod (Rams to Eagles) and Tashaun Gipson (Browns to Jaguars); defensive ends Malik Jackson (Broncos to Jaguars) and Olivier Vernon (Dolphins to Giants); defensive tackles Damon Harrison (Jets to Giants) and Brandon Mebane (Seahawks to Chargers); linebackers Danny Trevathan (Broncos to Bears), Demario Davis (Jets to Browns) and Bruce Irvin (Seahawks to Raiders); offensive tackles Mitchell Schwartz (Browns to Chiefs), Donald Stephenson (Chiefs to Broncos), Bobby Massie (Cardinals to Bears) and Russell Okung (Seahawks to Broncos); guards Kelechi Osemele (Ravens to Raiders), J. R. Sweezy (Seahawks to Buccaneers) and Alex Boone (49ers to Vikings); center Alex Mack (Browns to Falcons); tight ends Benjamin Watson (Saints to Ravens) and Coby Fleener (Colts to Saints); wide receivers Rishard Matthews (Dolphins to Titans) Travis Benjamin (Browns to Chargers), Marvin Jones (Bengals to Lions) and Mohamed Sanu (Bengals to Falcons); running backs Lamar Miller (Dolphins to Texans), Matt Forte (Bears to Jets), Alfred Morris (Redskins to Cowboys), and Chris Ivory (Jets to Jaguars); and quarterbacks Brock Osweiler (Broncos to Texans) and Robert Griffin III (Redskins to Browns).

Trades

Draft

The 2016 NFL Draft was held between April 28 − April 30, 2016 in Chicago. By way of a trade with the Tennessee Titans, the Los Angeles Rams held the first overall pick and selected QB Jared Goff.

Notable retirements

Regular season

The 2016 regular season featured 256 games which were played out over a seventeen-week schedule beginning on Thursday, September 8, 2016. Each of the league's 32 teams played a 16-game schedule, with one bye week for each team scheduled between weeks 4-13. The slate also featured games on Monday night. There were games played on Thursday, including the National Football League Kickoff game in prime time on September 8 and games on Thanksgiving Day. The regular season concluded with a full slate of 16 games on Sunday, January 1, 2017, all of which were intra-divisional matchups, as it has been since 2010.

Under the NFL's current scheduling formula, each team played each of the other three teams in its own division twice. In addition, a team played against all four teams in one other division from each conference. The final two games on a team's schedule were against the two teams in the team's own conference in the two divisions the team was not set to play which finished the previous season in the same rank in their division (e.g. the team which finished first in its division the previous season played each other team in its conference that also finished first in its respective division). The pre-set division pairings for 2016 were:

Highlights of the 2016 schedule included:

The complete 2016 schedule was released on Thursday, April 14, 2016.

In-season scheduling changes

Postseason

The 2016 playoffs began on the weekend of January 7–8, 2017 with the Wild Card playoff round. The four winners of these playoff games visited the top two seeded teams in each conference in the Divisional round games, which were played on the weekend of January 14–15, 2017. The winners of those games advanced to the Conference championship games, which will be held on January 22, 2017. The 2017 Pro Bowl was held at the recently renovated Camping World Stadium (the former Citrus Bowl stadium) in Orlando, Florida on January 29, 2017 and aired on ESPN. Super Bowl LI will be held on February 5, 2017 at NRG Stadium in Houston on Fox.

Deflategate

On April 25, 2016, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the 2016 regular season related to Deflategate; Brady dropped his appeal shortly thereafter and declined to take his case to the Supreme Court.

2016 deaths

The following people associated with the NFL (or AFL) have died in 2016.

Dennis Green

Dennis Green died July 21. Green was named the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1992, becoming the second full-time black head coach in NFL history (Art Shell, who had been hired for the Los Angeles Raiders three years prior, was the first). Green spent ten years coaching the Vikings, eight of them being playoff seasons, but never made it to the Super Bowl. He then took over the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to 2006, to much less success, most infamously in the Monday Night Meltdown, in which he let off a tirade after losing a game. Green had also spent time as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers and as a broadcast commentator. Green was 67.

Buddy Ryan

James "Buddy" Ryan died June 28. Ryan, a head coach and defensive coordinator who served with six NFL teams over the course of his career, was credited with inventing the 46 defense. His contributions to the game were considered crucial to helping the New York Jets secure an upset win in Super Bowl III and played a key role in the Chicago Bears' rout in Super Bowl XX. His sons, Rex and Rob, were both coaches with the Buffalo Bills at the time (a team the elder Ryan turned down a coaching offer from in the early years of his career). Ryan was 85.

Other notable deaths

Julius Adams, Caesar Belser, John Binotto, Cary Blanchard, Ron Brace, Clarence Brooks, Fred Bruney, Rudy Bukich, Dennis Byrd, Patrick Cain, Keion Carpenter, Gail Cogdill, Bruce DeHaven, David Douglas, Robert Eddins, Bill Glassford, Ken Gorgal, Quentin Groves, Bob Harrison, Joe Hergert, Winston Hill, Greg Horton, Gary Jeter, Paul Jetton, Curley Johnson, Ted Karras, Johnny Lattner, Jacky Lee, Mike McCoy, Joe McKnight, Ted Marchibroda, Andy Maurer, Lou Michaels, Lawrence Phillips, Chuck Pitcock, Fred Quillan, Konrad Reuland, Willie Richardson, Bill Robinson, Bryan Robinson, Leo Rucka, Rashaan Salaam, Will Smith, Bill Stanfill, Steve Thompson, Zurlon Tipton, Kevin Turner, Bill Wade, Fulton Walker, Tray Walker, Elmer Wingate, Al Wistert, John Wittenborn, George Yarno.

National anthem protests

In 2016, several professional athletes have protested the United States national anthem. The protests began in the NFL after San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the anthem, as opposed to the tradition of standing, before a preseason game.

Rule changes

The following rule changes were approved for the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on March 22:

The following changes were approved for only the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on March 23. Both are subject to become permanent rules or scrapped for the 2017.

The following changes to instant replay rules were approved for the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on May 24:

Additional rule updates made for the 2016 season include:

Records, milestones, and notable statistics

Postseason

All-Pro team

The following players were named First Team All-Pro by the Associated Press:

Players of the week/month

The following were named the top performers during the 2016 season:

Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons are playing their 25th and final season at the Georgia Dome, with the team's new home field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, slated to open in 2017.

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are playing their first season at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Construction on the team's new home field in downtown Minneapolis wrapped up at the start of the 2016 season. The new stadium is built on the site of the Vikings' former home, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which was demolished after the 2013 season.

Relocation of the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles

The league scheduled a vote on whether to relocate one or two of its existing franchises to the Los Angeles metropolitan area on January 12, 2016. The league set a relocation fee of $550 million for any team who is approved to relocate. On January 4, three teams filed to relocate to Los Angeles: the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, and the St. Louis Rams, all three of which had previously resided in the city at various points in their history. Despite the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities recommending the Raiders' and Chargers' joint proposal for a stadium in Carson, California, on January 12, the league approved the Rams' proposal to relocate to Inglewood after three ballots, also giving the Chargers the option to share the Rams' stadium if they so choose. In the first two rounds of voting, Inglewood led Carson 21–11 and 20–12 respectively; by the third ballot, the Rams proposal had received effectively unanimous support from the other owners, with the final vote reaching 30–2 (the Raiders and Chargers themselves casting the lone opposing votes). The Rams will play the first three seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, while their new stadium is being built in Inglewood. The Rams previously played at the Coliseum during their first stint in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1979.

Rams bid for Los Angeles

The Rams and the St. Louis CVC (Convention & Visitors Commission) began negotiating deals to get the Rams' home stadium, The Dome at America's Center (then known as Edward Jones Dome), into the top 25 percent of stadiums in the league (i.e., top eight teams of the thirty-two NFL teams in reference to luxury boxes, amenities and overall fan experience). Under the terms of the lease agreement, the St. Louis CVC was required to make modifications to the Edward Jones Dome in 2005. However, then-owner, Georgia Frontiere, waived the provision in exchange for cash that served as a penalty for the city's noncompliance. The City of St. Louis, in subsequent years, made changes to the score board and increased the natural lighting by replacing panels with windows, although the overall feel remains dark. The minor renovations which totaled about $70 million did not bring the stadium within the specifications required under the lease agreement.

On February 1, 2013, a three-person arbitral tribunal selected to preside over the arbitration process found that the Edward Jones Dome was not in the top 25% of all NFL venues as required under the terms of the lease agreement between the Rams and the CVC. The tribunal further found that the estimated $700 million in proposed renovations by the Rams was not unreasonable given the terms of the lease agreement. Finally, the city of St. Louis was ordered to pay the Rams attorneys' fees which totaled a reported $2 million.

Publicly, city, county and state officials expressed no interest in providing further funding to the Edward Jones Dome in light of those entities, as well as taxpayers, continuing to owe approximately $300 million more on that facility. As such, if a resolution is not reached by the end of the 2014–2015 NFL season and the City of St. Louis remains non-compliant in its obligations under the lease agreement, the Rams would be free to nullify their lease and relocate.

On January 31, 2014, both the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Rams owner Stan Kroenke purchased 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum in Inglewood, California. It would be, by the most conservative estimates, sufficient land on which a NFL-proper stadium may be constructed. The purchase price was rumored to have been between US$90–100 million. Commissioner Roger Goodell represented that Mr. Kroenke informed the league of the purchase. As an NFL owner, any purchase of land in which a potential stadium could be built must be disclosed to the league. This development has further fueled rumors that the Rams intend to return its management and football operations to Southern California. The land was initially targeted for a Walmart Supercenter but Walmart could not get the necessary permits to build the center. Kroenke is married to Ann Walton Kroenke who is a member of the Walton family and many of Kroenke's real estate deals have involved Walmart properties. On January 5, 2015, The Los Angeles Times reported that Stan Kroenke and Stockbridge Capital Group are partnering up into developing a new NFL Stadium on property owned by Kroenke. The project will include a stadium of up to 80,000 seats and a performance venue of 6,000 seats while reconfiguring the previously approved Hollywood Park plan for up to 890,000 square feet of retail, 780,000 square feet of office space, 2,500 new residential units, a 300-room hotel and 25 acres of public parks, playgrounds, open space and pedestrian and bicycle access. The stadium is likely to be ready by 2019, In lieu of this the city of St. Louis responded on January 9, 2015, by unveiling an outdoor, open air, riverfront stadium that can accommodate the Rams and an MLS team with the hope that the NFL bylaws can force them to stay. On February 24, 2015, the Inglewood City Council approved the stadium and the initiative with construction on the stadium planned to begin in December 2015. On December 21, 2015, Construction was officially underway at the Hollywood Park site for the stadium. On January 4, 2016, after St. Louis finished last in per-game attendance for the 2015 season, the team filed a relocation application to relocate to Los Angeles and informed the NFL about this and released a statement on their website.

On January 12, 2016, the NFL owners approved the Inglewood proposal and the Rams' relocation by a 30-2 vote; the Rams relocated almost immediately thereafter.

Raiders and Chargers failed stadium bid

On February 19, 2015, the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers announced plans for a privately financed $1.7 billion stadium that the two teams would build in Carson, California if they were to move to the Los Angeles market. Such a move would have marked a return to the nation's second-largest market for both teams; the Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 while the Chargers called LA home for their inaugural season in the American Football League. The Chargers were the only NFL team to play in Southern California at the time (until the Rams moved to Los Angeles in 2016), with San Diego being a 125-mile (201 km) distance from Los Angeles, and the Chargers counted Los Angeles as a secondary market. The Chargers have been looking to replace Qualcomm Stadium (which, like the Oakland Coliseum opened in the late 1960s) since at least 2003, and have had an annual out clause in which it can move in exchange for paying a fine to the city of San Diego for its remaining years on its lease. The Raiders, meanwhile, have been operating on year-to-year leases with Oakland Coliseum, the stadium it has shared with the Oakland Athletics for most of its time in Oakland, California, since the last long-term lease on that stadium ended in 2013.

Due to both television contracts and NFL bylaws, had both of the longstanding division rivals moved to LA, one of the teams would have been required to move to the NFC West, something that Mark Davis volunteered the Raiders to be willing to do. The Raiders moving to the National Football Conference would have been considered ironic seeing that Davis's father Al Davis was a staunch opponent of the NFL during its rivalry and eventual merger with the AFL. If such a scenario happened, a current NFC West team would have taken their spot in the AFC West. The early rumor was that the Seattle Seahawks, who played in the AFC West from 1977 to 2001, would be the favorite to switch conferences with the Raiders. However, that team's growing rivalry with the San Francisco 49ers had pointed to either the Arizona Cardinals or the then-St. Louis Rams switching conferences to take the Raiders' spot in the AFC West. Had the Rams stayed in St. Louis, switching them to the AFC would have allowed for a yearly home-and-home with the cross-state Kansas City Chiefs. As a portion of the Rams' 2016 schedule was already set because of their International Series appearance, the league could not realign until at least 2017.

On October 23, 2015, Mark Fabiani, Chargers spokesperson confirmed that the team planned to officially notify the NFL about its intentions to relocate to Los Angeles in January during the timetable when teams can request to relocate. On January 4, 2016, both teams filed relocation applications for relocation to Los Angeles. On January 12, 2016, the NFL voted to allow the Rams move to Los Angeles and the Inglewood proposal, effectively rejecting and killing the Carson proposal. The Chargers have the option to join the Rams in Inglewood in 2016, with the Raiders having the option in 2017 if the Chargers decline; the Chargers announced on January 29 that they would remain in San Diego for the 2016 season as negotiations continue, but that if negotiations ultimately fail, that they had reached an agreement in principle with the Rams to join them in Los Angeles once the Inglewood stadium is complete. The Raiders reached an agreement on another one-year lease extension with Oakland Coliseum on February 11, 2016, keeping the team in Oakland for one more season.

The Raiders, having previously explored San Antonio, Texas as a potential relocation site in 2014, moved on to other potential relocation sites after the rejection of the Carson proposal, focusing on a stadium plan in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Nevada. On August 25, 2016, the Raiders applied for a trademark for the "Las Vegas Raiders" and unveiled artist renditions of the proposed Las Vegas stadium, given the tentative title "Raiders Stadium."

Buffalo Bills

On August 13, the Buffalo Bills had reached an agreement to sell the naming rights to their stadium to the locally based New Era Cap Company, a major headwear supplier to all of the major North American sports leagues. The stadium had previously been known as Rich Stadium from its opening in 1973, then as Ralph Wilson Stadium since 1998. The sale of naming rights came as somewhat of a surprise, as previous owner Ralph Wilson was firmly against selling the naming rights to the stadium and there were few companies in Western New York believed to have the money to pay the naming rights fee for an NFL stadium.

Miami Dolphins

Canadian-based financial services company Sun Life Financial had held the naming rights to the Miami Dolphins' stadium since 2010, a deal which expired in the offseason. The team already announced that it was not going to renew the license. On August 16, 2016, it was reported that Hard Rock Cafe purchased the naming rights to the stadium, with the venue to be renamed Hard Rock Stadium.

Oakland Raiders

On April 2, the O.co Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders, reverted to its previous identity as the Oakland Alameda Coliseum. Online retailer Overstock.com held the naming rights to the Raiders' home field since 2011, but opted out of the naming rights agreement, though it will continue to maintain its corporate sponsorship with the Athletics. The Raiders' home field has undergone numerous name changes in its history, including Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004) and McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008).

Baltimore Ravens

On December 2, 2015, the Baltimore Ravens announced a change in the surface at M&T Bank Stadium from their previous Shaw Sportexe Momentum 51 artificial turf to natural Bermuda grass for the first time since the 2001 season, by player preference for a natural surface. The field was replaced beginning on February 4, 2016, timed to be installed by the start of the Johns Hopkins lacrosse season.

New uniforms and patches

After a trial run in 2015, the NFL Color Rush program returns for 2016 with all 32 NFL teams required to participate. To prevent issues with color blindness from the previous season, the NFL is being careful to schedule match ups where color blindness will not be an issue. Most of the Color Rush games will be during the Thursday Night Football contests.

Media

This was the third season under broadcast contracts with ESPN, CBS, Fox, and NBC. 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 annual Kickoff game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN will continue airing Monday Night Football and the Pro Bowl. Fox will serve as the broadcaster of Super Bowl LI.

A change to the flexible scheduling rule takes effect for the 2016 season: in week 17, any game can be flexed into Sunday Night Football, regardless of how many times a team had been featured on a primetime game that season. This change can, theoretically, allow a game with playoff implications in the final week of the season to be moved to primetime for greater prominence. As in 2015, the NFL will continue the "suspension" of its blackout policy, meaning that all games will be broadcast in their home markets regardless of ticket sales; Goodell stated that the league needed to continue investigating the impact of removing the blackout rules before such a change is made permanent.

The league's contract with CBS for Thursday Night Football expired after the 2015 season and was placed back up for bids. On February 1, 2016, the NFL announced that Thursday Night Football would be shared between CBS, NBC, and NFL Network for the 2016 season. CBS and NBC will each air five games, which will be simulcast by NFL Network, along with an additional eight games exclusively on NFL Network, the production of which will be split between the two networks. Commissioner Roger Goodell that the league was "thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of success broadcasting NFL football in primetime, and look forward to expanding with a digital partner for what will be a unique tri-cast on broadcast, cable and digital platforms." On April 5, 2016, it was announced that Twitter had acquired non-exclusive worldwide digital streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television TNF games, including to mobile devices (this is the first time any NFL games have been made available to mobile devices not subscribed to Verizon Wireless, whose NFL Mobile app holds exclusive rights to all other games). This partnership will also include content for Twitter's live streaming service Periscope, such as behind-the-scenes access.

After 2015's Bills–Jaguars International Series contest was a modest success, the league was initially expected to make all three of the 2016 London games exclusive to the Internet. Yahoo! Screen, which carried the 2015 contest, shut down in January 2016; the bidders on the three games (which may or may not go to the same broadcaster) included YouTube and Apple TV, both of which bid on the 2015 game but were passed up in favor of Yahoo!'s bid. Ultimately, the league decided not to make the International Series games Web-exclusive, instead focusing its efforts on the Thursday Night Football partnership with Twitter.

Mike Tirico, the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football, announced his departure from ESPN on May 9, 2016; he joins NBC, where he was originally designated to lead the network's broadcast team for Thursday Night Football telecasts. Replacing Tirico on MNF is Sean McDonough. The move was initially reported in April but not confirmed until the next month. However, shortly before the start of the regular season, the league exercised a clause in its television contract with NBC demanding that any broadcast team that calls Sunday Night Football also call Thursday Night Football as well, effectively forcing Al Michaels to call both packages unless he and Tirico also split Sundays (this was the scenario that was ultimately chosen; on most weeks when Michaels calls a Thursday game, Tirico will call Sundays). This is also the final season Chris Berman serves as a studio analyst for ESPN's NFL programming; Berman has been with ESPN since the network's inception in 1979.

Most watched regular season games

*Note — Late DH matchups listed in table are the matchups that were shown to the largest percentage of the market.