While the Jets are officially the subject of this year’s Hard Knocks, the HBO production will not include some of the same footage as in years past.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, New York is not allowing HBO to film some parts of training camp, including when the team informs players that they are cut, a departure from Hard Knocks episodes of years past.
“Hard Knocks will not be the same because they’re not going to be given the same access,” Schefter said. “The Jets don’t believe it’s humane to show players being released.”
.@AdamSchefter put it all out there this morning saying the #Jets ‘fought it all along’ in reference to #HardKnocks, ‘they met w/ @NFLFilms & told them clear as day we don’t want to do this’ + ‘Hard Knocks will not be the same because they’re not going to be given the same… pic.twitter.com/ItnpFYwo9E
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) July 17, 2023
According to Schefter, the Jets “fought” about being included on Hard Knocks, but they did not meet the requirements to deny it outright. However, the NFL preferred the Jets be on the TV show as they are among the most interesting teams in the NFL this year.
As a result, the product could look different than in years past.
“The Jets are not going to provide the level of cooperation that the Lions provided last year or that other teams have provided in other years,” Schefter said.
Many members of this Jets team have participated in Hard Knocks before, with the Jets as an organization having been the focus in 2010.
Additionally, Joe Douglas was featured on the first-ever Hard Knocks with the Ravens in 2001. That year, Douglas was a player personnel assistant, and part of his responsibilities was to retrieve players right before they were informed of their release. Douglas was nicknamed “The Turk” which he described as “The Grim Reaper.”
“You’re doing the dirty work of grabbing somebody to take them to get cut,” Douglas said during the episode. “This is not a good part of the business.”
Now that Douglas is the one doing the cutting, he may have decided that particular aspect of the job was too personal to publicize.
The first episode of the Hard Knocks season will air on Tuesday, August 8.
