After finishing in the N.F.L. in 2021, Mr. Collins played for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League this past spring.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/sports/alex-collins-ravens-seahawks-dead.html

Back then, Patrick Mahomes wasn’t Patrick Mahomes, one of the greatest N.F.L. quarterbacks ever to play the sport.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/12/opinion/patrick-mahomes-jalen-hurts-super-bowl.html

Bill Curry, a longtime college football coach who played for 10 seasons in the N.F.L. in the 1960s and ’70s, said that the sport of football is unique in that players rely on each other intimately for both success and physical safety.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/us/damar-hamlin-prayers-football-religion.html

“I’d go with him to visit N.F.L. clubs,” Joe Spear, a longtime colleague, said in a phone interview.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/sports/ron-labinski-dead.html

In 2019, for instance, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that former N.F.L. players were far more likely to have atrial fibrillation than people in the general population.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/sports/football/nfl-injuries-statistics.html

Mahomes — whose father, Pat, a former pitcher in the big leagues, is Black and whose mother, Randi, is white — has been candid about race issues in the N.F.L. as well.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/sports/football/patrick-mahomes-super-bowl-maturity.html

N.F.L. clubs are the “Rolls-Royce of American sports leagues,” said Salvatore Galatioto, whose firm advises investors on professional sports deals.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/business/dealbook/what-bank-earnings-reveal-about-the-health-of-the-economy.html

Their films’ blend of orchestral swells, voice-of-God narration and stately cinematography — slow-motion shots tracking spiraling passes, ghostly game footage from the “frozen tundra” of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field — cast the N.F.L. in transcendent terms.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/magazine/sunday-night-football.html

The N.F.L. playoffs continue with wild-card games today and Monday.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/briefing/netanyahu-israel-protests.html

There will be something new in the N.F.L. next year: nothing.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/sports/football/number-0-nfl-jerseys.html

With an outpouring of good will from Bills fans and players, and exciting plays in a crucial win, the N.F.L. created memories that faded the horror of Damar Hamlin’s collapse.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/sports/football/bills-first-game-hamlin.html