Some very important NFLers

Note: this will appear in the November issue of Hooters magazine. Enjoy!

Older sportswriters will forever say that baseball is America’s past-time. They are the only ones left saying that these days. The NFL moves the meter these days and because of that, the kings of the gridiron are the kings of the sports galaxy. Whereas Michael Jordan used to rule the sports endorsement parade, now football players drive the bandwagon. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and even Jerry Jones all appear in national commercials but are they the most important people in the league right now? Are there other people that are potentially more influential in today’s NFL?

You have to start with the commissioner aka the self-proclaimed “protector of the Shield” Roger Goodell. This is a man that took over the post and immediately made his presence known by doling out punishment for actions he deemed were not worthy of his standards for the league. Goodell punished the late Chris Henry, Adam “Pac Man” Jones, Tank Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger and Michael Vick among others for incidents that may not have necessarily been brought up in a court of law but were in his court. Goodell isn’t just a punisher though. He has taken the league to new places, including regular season games in London and Canada, a Pro Bowl in Miami and the NFL draft into primetime. Goodell has seen his Super Bowls break television records and has worked out a blockbuster television deal. Pete Rozelle may be the most famous commissioner ever for what he did for the league in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but if Goodell keeps making the owners and players record amounts of money and the ratings continue to soar, the Goodell might take that mantle away before he steps away from the post.

One of the men that Goodell “works for” Jerry Jones is certainly one of the most important men in the NFL. After he took over the Cowboys, he won three titles in the mid-90s before going on a long and dry playoff drought. Last season, the Cowboys finally won a playoff game, but despite the playoff failures for over a decade, Dallas is still one of the most popular teams in the NFL. Dallas was dubbed “America’s team” after all of its successes and Jones was a big reason for the Cowboys being as popular as they are. Jones brokered deals with major sponsors like Nike and Pepsi while turning Texas Stadium into a mecca for football fans. Then Jer-rah opened up a brand new Cowboys Stadium that cost $1.3 billion dollars that multiple Texas cities were competing to have within their limits, just for the cachet that comes with Jones’ Cowboys. His new playground is the third largest capacity in the league in terms of seating capacity, but if you factor in standing-room “seats,” over 110,000 can watch a game. Jones himself is the biggest star on the biggest team in the league and while some may call him a punchline, he spends money bringing in players and coaches and GMs because he wants to win. And the man is making some serious coin too, as he’ll host the Super Bowl this season.

With all due respect to Jones and Goodell, they aren’t in the trenches, and when you talk about who is important in the NFL, you need to talk about the guys that wear the helmets. This is a quarterback league and the QBs are certainly the stars. Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is the poster-boy for modern QBs because he is handsome, has a supermodel wife and three Super Bowl titles in four Super Bowls. Brady is a star that goes beyond the football field due to his matinee idol looks but the guy is also in the NFL record books after going 18-1 in the 2007 season. Brady took less money in his last contract, which enabled his team to go out and get several other pieces, namely Wes Welker and Randy Moss, and helped the Pats come within a miracle helmet-catch away from a fourth Super Bowl title. Brady will set the bar this year with his new contract and if he were to leave, about 30 teams would line up for his services, despite some recent injury history. This guy is the face of a franchise that the league is proud of.

While Brady has the Super Bowl rings, Peyton Manning has the MVP awards and is clearly one of the most popular players in the history of the NFL. Manning finally won a title a few years back, but it might be his sense of humor that makes Manning so important to the league. The Colts QB is hysterical in various commercials as well as Saturday Night Live and helped the NFL get over the black eye Michael Vick and Pac Man Jones gave the Shield a few years back. Manning’ s personality also showed that players don’t necessarily need to wear uniforms for people to recognize them in commercials. Manning also will help set future QB salaries when he reupps with Indy in the upcoming off-season.

Darrelle Revis might end up being one of the most important figures in NFL history if he doesn’t step on the football field this season. Revis was a holdout through the first few weeks of camp, threatening to hold out for the entire season if the New York Jets don’t meet his asking price during a contract renegotiation. New York and Revis agreed to a deal when Revis was drafted, but the star cornerback has become the best shutdown player in the game today and is seeking to be compensated as such. The Jets however are standing pat. If Revis DOES sit the season out in his prime, therefore killing the J-E-T-S’s Super Bowl chances in the process, it might set a dangerous precedence for other players to do the same thing. Many may go ahead and sit out seasons in the future that maybe never considered doing before because they didn’t want to be the first. Revis could be the Jackie Robinson of holdouts if he sticks to his guns.

Football is in fact America’s new favorite game and the NFL is the creme de la creme of the pigskin. Everyone that is associated with the league is important, but these five rise above the rest when it comes to today’s game. If you don’t believe it, just check out the ratings of a game featuring one or two of these guys and see how it stacks up to the NBA Finals or a MLB playoff game. The NFL dominates and these five have been driving the bus.