NFL Kickoff 2020: Bleacher Report Devises COVID-Safe Production Plan for New Player-Driven Underrated Series NFL-focused content vertical, B/R Gridiron, enters second season off a strong debut campaign By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 2:28 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After a successful rollout of its NFL-focused B/R Gridiron-brand vertical, Bleacher Report is rolling into the new NFL season with a wealth of original content designed to build engaging content the way only B/R can.
Among the highlights of the new content calendar are the series Underrated Presented by State Farm, which Bleacher is producing in partnership with Mandalay Sports Media - the group behind widely praised documentary series The Last Dance.
For Bleacher Report's new series Underrated, host Adam Lefkoe interviews players via Zoom as a local film crew shoots them performing various live football drills to make the case to increase their player rating in the Madden NFL videogame series.
The concept of the series is simple: players react to their ratings in the newest edition of the Electronic Arts-produced videogame Madden NFL 21 and must prove on the spot in a series of drills why they deserve a higher rating than the game has assigned them.
Underrated taps into the zeitgeist surrounding Madden NFL player ratings and the heated conversation that happens with fans and the players themselves who feel they should be rated higher in specific skills, said Bleacher Report Chief Content Officer Sam Toles in an official release this week. This is the type of innovative, fan-forward content our audiences crave, the sweet spot connecting sports, fandom, and culture.
The eight-episode series premiered this week (Episode 1 stars Denver Broncos rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy), but this was a summer-long project littered with COVID-fueled logistical challenges that the B/R team overcame to create original content with a special level of access.
According to Bleacher Report lead producer Sean McManus, shoots were arranged with safety in mind. At a field close to the players, small video crews - made up largely of local freelancers - would shoot footage of the player participating in live action drills and conducting interviews with host Adam Lefkoe, who spoke to the players from his home via Zoom.
Crews onsite typically include two handheld-camera operators, a drone pilot, and technicians and producers to ensure quality across the shoot. McManus even arranged to have cellphone cameras rigged atop the shoulder-mount cameras so that Lefkoe could see, in real time via Zoom, angles of all of the footage being shot.
Madden is always a hot topic, McManus said to SVG. With the hardcore Madden audience, they consume pretty much whatever type of content you're doing with Madden. That combination of the hardcore Madden audience with a more general football audience that likes to see their favorite players doing drills that they normally wouldn't be able to see is an exciting combination. [You're] seeing their personalities on the field. I think those are the two main audiences that will love Underrated.
Rookie @jerryjeudy's route running is S M O O T H
The Broncos WR explains why he's even better come game time . Watch as he tries to improve his Madden rating in the premiere episode of Underrated with @AdamLefkoe (@StateFarm) https://t.co/e7knx3RWSg pic.twitter.com/JIa9MVkmwi
B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) September 10, 2020
The series joins a healthy lineup of B/R Gridiron content: Untold Stories (an award-winning show featuring behind-the-scenes stories of NFL legends that premieres exclusively on Facebook Watch), Gridiron Heights (the light-hearted animated comedy series), Your Fantasy Fire Drill (a live, interactive fantasy-football-focused show that airs on the B/R app prior to the start of action every Sunday), and The Lefkoe Show (the B/R host's biweekly NFL podcast).
In its first year of hyper-focused NFL content, B/R Gridiron has garnered more than 2 million followers across the world of social platforms and averaged more than 34 million video views each month last season. According to Bleacher Report, the numbers add up to make it the top digital sports publisher on NFL Sundays, and eight of the 20 most-followed streams on the B/R app are NFL-specific.
In just one year, we've built a football-content portfolio that drives massive levels of engagement with fans, says Toles, and we believe the upcoming B/R Gridiron slate is going to take us to the next level. We've built a versatile content lineup that will be sure to entertain football fans throughout the season.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
NFL Kickoff 2020: Bleacher Report Devises COVID-Safe Production Plan for New Player-Driven Underrated Series NFL-focused content vertical, B/R Gridiron, enters second season off a strong debut campaign By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
