The NFL schedule release has become a celebration like the NFL Draft in recent years. Teams take advantage of the opportunity to reveal their slate of games in the most creative ways. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been among the clubs with the most imaginative videos. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the division rival Indianapolis Colts, which made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The Colts used a Minecraft-themed video to announce their schedule. But after just a few hours of posting it, they deleted it. At the time, the most logical theory was that they crossed the line when they portrayed wide receiver Tyreek Hill as a dolphin being arrested by the Coast Guard. The bit was a reference to his arrest before the 2024 season opener against the Jags.
Another possibility was that the clip showed Patrick Mahomes stopping a fight between his dad and former MLB player John Rocker, reminiscent of their brawl during Super Bowl weekend. Maybe Indy got cold feet, but regardless of the reason, it took the video down. The following day, it released a statement with an explanation.
"We removed our schedule release video because it exceed our rights with Microsoft and included an insensitive clip involving Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill," the Colts said on the statement, via Pro Football Talk. "We sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek."
On top of that, Stephen Holder of ESPN reported that Indianapolis reached out to Hill's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to pass along their apologies to his client over the schedule release video.
Simply put, the whole thing was a mess. The silver lining is that Hill took it in stride, pointing out that he found the whole thing funny.
The Colts need to follow the Jaguars' example when it comes to schedule release video
However you look at it, the Indianapolis Colts missed the mark badly. Aside from not asking for permission from Microsoft, they got involved in controversy because of the Tyreek Hill bit. Sure, he found it funny, but the fact that they second-guessed their decision proved it wasn't a great idea to begin with. To add insult to injury, the Los Angeles Chargers also had a Minecraft-themed release video, but they did ask for permission, and it was much better executed.
Now, Indy's deleted video won't stop being compared to the Chargers' in the upcoming. And that's the thing, never did they stop to think whether it was a good idea. Like Los Angeles, the Jacksonville Jaguars borrowed a licensed IP for their release video in 2024. In their case, it was X-Men 97, but you can bet that they did ask Disney (the owner of the rights) for permission, unlike their division foes.
Ultimately, you can call the Jaguars' release schedule video dull (it wasn't), but at least they didn't infringe on potential copyright violations or get in trouble because they made light of a serious situation.
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