This post is about American football outside America. There are no professional teams outside America but it is growing fast in Europe. With the introduction of American football on sky sports it has blown up and they now play some games from the NFL in wembley stadium, London. Another big envelopment is the first ever European player to get drafted. Moritz Boeringer got drafted in the 2016 draft to the Minnesota vikings. Unfortunately Moritz didnt make the full squad but luckily made the practise squad. This shows that you can make it from outside America which is a huge influence among younger players aspiring to be football players in the future. Their is minor leagues growing in many countries but not yet a professional team in the NFL. although England are and have been for awhile in talks for their own NFL team. But their is one thing for certain football is definately growing around the world.

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Moritz Boeringer first European drafted into the NFL.

This post is about how players get around and to the NFL. It all starts in high school then the best players from there get scholarships to play in college and then from there the best players can choose to enter the NFL draft this is where each team has 7 picks. there is 7 rounds for all 32 teams and they pick the college players they want/need. the draft order is determined on how well they did last season e.g if a team went 0-17 they would have the 1st draft pick (the best college player) and if a team went unbeaten 17-0 they would have the last pick 32nd pick of the 7 rounds. If you are not picked in the draft there is still a small possibility. teams can still sign free agents if they think there good enough. another way players can go from team to team is trading. Teams can trade draft picks or other players to acquire other players. Or if they do not have a team the team can discuss contract talks and sign players straight from there. when a player runs out of contract they go onto the free agency where they hope to find a new team.


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High school stadium.

Now i will talk to you about positions. There is 11 players allowed on the field at one time per team so there is always 22 players on the field. On offense There is the "main" man the quarterback he mainly throws but can run if needs be then their is the fullback his job is to either run or majoritely block for the running back then there is the halfback or running back who does what it says on the tin runs. Then there is the wide receivers who essentially run and try catch the ball and the tight ends who are a bigger version of the wide receivers e.g usually taller then 6'2. Then the underrated "blockers" left tackle, left guard, centre, right guard, right tackle there job is to block the defensive players (explained shortly) trying to either tackle the quarterback or running back.
Defense: Then their is the defense this a little less complicated first you have the defensive line made up of the defensive tackles and right and left ends their job is to get through the offensive blockers and sack (tackle) the quaterback or running back. Then there is the linebacker's. the middle linebackers job is (depending) on the play to either rush the quarterback as well (blitz) or drop back into coverage and try stop the pass getting to the wide receivers or tight ends then you have the outside linebackers they have a similar job to the middle linebacker but primarily work as extra defensive line players and help rush the quarterback. Then you have the cornerbacks who mark the wide receivers and try stop the pass. Then finally you have the safetys their job is primarily to stop the long pass or just help the cornerbacks mark the receivers.

American football can be quite complicated especially if you do not follow it regularly but I am here to explain it to you. Unlike football American football has 1 league that splits into 2 conferences which splits into 8 divisions 4 divisions each conference. The two conferences are called NFC and AFC which
of coarse split the total 32 teams in two. In the conferences there is north,south.east and west.

 AFC north: Baltimore ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.
AFC south: Houston Texans, Indianapolis colts, Jacksonville jaguars, Tennessee Titans.
AFC east: Buffalo bills, Miami Dolphins, New England patriots, New York Jets.
AFC west: Denver broncos, Kansas city chiefs, Oakland raiders, San Diego chargers.

NFC north: Chicago bears, Detroit lions, Green bay packers, Minnesota vikings.
NFC south: Atlanta falcons, Carolina panthers, New Orleans saints, Tampa bay buccaneers.
NFC east: Dallas cowboys, New York giants, Washington redskins, Philadelphia eagles.
NFC west: Arizona cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles rams.

These are all 8 divisions but now comes the complicated bit, in the regular season it is a random schedule apart from you have to play each team in your division 2 times each e.g Baltimore ravens play the bengals, browns and the steelers 2 times each. There is 17 weeks in the regular season and then there is something called the post season or the playoffs. The top team in the division (with the best record at the end of the season) automatically get into the playoffs and they are seeded depending on their record. Then 2 teams from the AFC and NFC (2nd place in their division with the top record in their conference) they then play each other this is called the wild card. Still with me? trust me it gets easier the winners of that goes on to play the divisonal round and the winner of this goes onto the conference round to claim the champion of the conference.Then there is the super bowl (the final) to claim the NFL champion. Did you follow this if so and you arent a NFL fan you should seriously consider to start following a team. :)

American football is the backbone of American society but did it start in America? well I am here to tell you that it didn't. "American football" actually didn't start in America it originated in Britain it was separated by the idea of the "forward pass". This was when America took interest and was first played competitively in college when a Yale graduate "changing" the British version of the "kicking" game to the now American version of the "running" game adding rules such as the "line of scrimmage" and the naming of positions. It grew bigger and bigger in college before the first professional contract was handed out for a game between Allegheny athletic association vs Pittsburgh athletic association in 1920. This was when the American professional football association was formed and later called the national football league ( NFL ) as it is today. At the start professional football was only really in the Midwestern industrial towns in America before it came a national phenomenon new rules were introduced in the 1932 NFL playoff game where the forward pass was disallowed in front of the line of scrimmage and the movement of the goal posts behind the touchdown zone. Other important events such as the first Heisman trophy awarded in 1935 (the prestigious college award), the first NFL draft in 1936 and the first televised game in 1939. The 1930s shaped the game we now know as American football from a game that wasn't even started in America.

Hello my name is Stephen and this is my blog on American Football.