This list wouldn’t be complete without the movie that lives on in PFN lore. Is Draft Day truly a great movie? Absolutely not. Is it entertaining watching Kevin Costner as Sonny Weaver Jr., the fictional general manager of the Cleveland Browns navigate trying to turn the franchise around via the NFL Draft? Absolutely. Vontae Mack no matter what.
Starring Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman, The Replacements is a loose portrayal of the 1987 NFL strike, featuring the fictional Washington Sentinels’ rapid attempts to recruit a team of replacement players.
This movie came out during the start of Dwayne Johnson’s ascent to Hollywood megastar. Still billed as The Rock, Gridiron Gang is the story of a juvenile detention facility counselor seeks to empower the young inmates by turning them into a football team and takes heat from opposing high school teams that don’t want to compete against inmates.
The story of Michael Oher has become a controversial one over the years. Starring Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side tells an inspirational tale of a homeless Black teen lost in a school system that largely ignores him who’s taken in by a local family that helps empower him to realize his scholastic and football potential.
Most of you reading this probably remember the Adam Sandler version from 2005, but it’s the original story of prison inmates playing a football game against prison guards that deserves the accolades.
Starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quiad, and Jamie Foxx, Any Given Sunday tells the story of a once-famed football program is on the descent. So is its head coach, aging quarterback, and other aging former stars, who must figure out how to stem this slide and restore their former glory.
Denzel Washington stars in this based on a true story movie about the challenges of integration on his 1971 high school football team. This movie also features Ryan Gosling and Hayden Panettiere before they became household names.
A loaded cast featuring Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Luke Wilson, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Concussion tell sth story of how Dr. Bennet Omalu overcame becoming a pariah when exposing the dangerous nature of professional football. CTE is a well known term now, but it wasn’t before Dr. Omalu discovered it.
A snapshot of high school football life in a small Texas town, where the head coach addresses adversity within his family and his team. Starting Billy Bob Thornton, Friday Night Lights showcases just how important high school football is in the state of Texas.
