In 2001, NFL Films debuted a new show called “Hard Knocks” that gave a behind-the-scenes look at the defending-champion Baltimore Ravens during training camp.
Now, 25 years later, “Hard Knocks” is an award-winning juggernaut that has achieved both critical acclaim and mainstream popularity while having a lasting impact on the sports-content landscape.
The most recent edition, “Hard Knocks: In Season With the NFC East,” follows the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, and New York Giants down the stretch of the 2025 NFL season and into the playoffs, and all episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.
PFSN recently caught up with “Hard Knocks” director and showrunner Steve Trout to discuss how the show has evolved over the last two-and-a-half decades, what goes into making the Emmy Award-winning show, and much more.
‘Hard Knocks’ Director Steve Trout Gives a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Show
“Hard Knocks” has been on the air for more than two decades, and now there are multiple versions of it. How has the show evolved in that span, and what are the biggest changes?
Steve Trout: “I love how it’s evolved with time. We first did it with the Ravens in 2001. I don’t think we knew what we were doing and just kind of took a stab at this idea and then kept that going. Then, I feel like Bengals in ‘09 with Chad [Johnson], that’s when it started turning the corner from niche viewing to mainstream. Chad had the ‘kiss the baby’ and ‘child please’ moments. And then the next year: Big Apple, Rex Ryan, ‘let’s go get the GD snacks.’ Those moments took us to, I think, mainstream viewing.
“The holy grail has always been doing something full season. So then that kept going strong and started winning Emmys, which obviously in our world is a good thing. Then, we started doing ‘All or Nothing’ and that came about because I stopped doing ‘Hard Knocks’ and went on to the ‘All or Nothing’ show, which was all season, but that didn’t air concurrently. Then, finally, we got the Cardinals to agree to be the first ‘Hard Knocks: In Season,’ which was an amazing step.
“And what I love is that we didn’t just stop there; I think the sweet spot is this divisional model because it’s less of an ask for each team, all four are doing the exact same thing, it airs concurrently. We knock it down to the last six weeks [of the season] where the stakes are the highest, which I love. Now we’re only in our second year of that, so we’re a little 2-year-old infant in this new model. But I think we’ve got the sweet spot.”
“Hard Knocks” has always shot a ton of footage, but now with the in-season version chronicling multiple teams, what’s the most challenging part of turning hundreds of hours across different teams into tight weekly episodes?
Trout: “That’s it right there. It’s probably 300-to-one in terms of our programming, at least 300 hours of raw footage. There’s a great quote that [NFL Films founder] Steve Sabol used to say and it’s that documentary filmmaking in this sense is building an airplane in flight. We don’t go into the season, let’s say a month ahead of time, knowing who the characters are going to be. That would be a waste of energy and effort.
“You’ve got to figure out what the storyline is that week. So by Wednesday and Thursday, we have a good grasp on what the storylines will be for each of the four teams that week. But let’s say something happens in one of the games or there’s a huge right turn in one of these games, we’ve got to be able to pivot and if we need to go back and then backfill a different storyline late on Sunday night to make this week story arc make sense, that’s why we shoot the 300 to one because we have it if we need it.
“But you nailed it. It is so hard. We could do so much more, we could air so much more, but you’ve got to find the best of the best, and the only way to do that is to shoot a ton.”
When it comes to determining the characters for a given season, do you have certain archetypes that you’re looking to fill like the veteran leader, the longshot rookie, and so on?
Trout: “Yeah, we have a very good grasp at the 30,000-foot stuff, that’s exactly right. We all know who the top four or five stars are. Who is that guy that could retire? [For ‘Hard Knocks: In Season’] Jayden’s comeback was obviously a big thing; when is he going to come back to the Commanders? So yes, we have that stuff, of course. We know who might be a good [interview] and who might be a good locker room presence.
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“But you don’t know the weekly stuff. When there’s a divisional game and we can be with both teams in their weeklong ramp-up and game-planning for a game, you get to see both of them playing this kind of chess game. That’s the football fascination of it all. It’s just a matter of how do we humanize some of that too?”
You mentioned the Chad Johnson and Rex Ryan moments, and they are easily two of the biggest fan favorites from the show. Who are some of your favorite players and coaches you’ve followed over the years?
Trout: “A lot of ’em, for me, are the repeats, guys who’ve done multiple seasons of the show, who I’ve gotten to know really well and have great friendships. Carson Palmer was there in ‘09 and then he was with the Cardinals later on. Chad Johnson is up there. He’s a Mount Rushmore character for me and one of the most genuine human beings you’ll ever meet. Everything you see from Chad Johnson is exactly who he is; he’s not faking any of that.
“Larry Fitzgerald is one of my favorite human beings. I spent a year with him for the Cardinals show; he’s very private, and it took a long time for him to let us do stuff with him. Mike Zimmer, he’s been on three or four ‘Hard Knocks,’ poor guy. On his exterior, he’s one of the most gruff, profane, quintessential football coaches, but he’s one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet. I got to know him and his family, and he’s been through a lot of ups and downs.
“It was funny. I was at a practice around the Commanders’ building and Antonio Hamilton walks up to me and he’s like, ‘Do you remember me? You were in my kitchen doing a whole scene.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, of course I remember!’ Antonio was with the Dolphins and he had a horrible foot reaction and was out because he burned his foot, just a freakish thing with his foot and he let us come into his house, and we did a whole scene with him. It’s so funny because, not that I forgot that, but there’s like all these different crossroads, your paths cross again at some point. Is he a marquee guy? No, but he’s such a great dude, so it spans the whole spectrum.”
Some teams seem excited to be on “Hard Knocks,” while others seem more guarded. You’ve always said that after the first few days, they tend to forget you’re even there, but how important is the team’s buy-in, and how does that impact the final product?
Trout: “It’s extremely important because all we want is authenticity. All we want is transparency and the trust to tell the team’s story. Siri (Nick Sirianni) went on WIP radio and they asked him [about us] and he said, ‘I don’t even know they’re there.’ And that’s all we want. We don’t want you to ham it up for the camera and we don’t want you to shoo the cameras away. So if we get that sweet spot where they forget we’re there and they’re just being themselves in all facets of the day, whether you’re watching film or you’re at home with your wife or you’re hanging out with teammates. If we get to that degree of genuineness, that’s our goal; then we can tell this story with the authenticity that it deserves. And we all have our own BS meter, so I know (I think, at least) when guys are being fake.
“So, the team’s buy-in is paramount. And for the most part, every team has totally bought in and that’s why I think we, NFL Films, can do this because there’s a trust there. No offense to the ESPNs and Foxs of the world, but there’s a trust with NFL Films, we’ve been doing this for 50 years. We spent an entire year with [Bill] Belichick in the first-ever ‘A Football Life.’ We spent 10 months with a guy who you would think is one of those guarded football people ever. But he loved the historical aspect of it, he didn’t change a thing, and what came out of that was a pretty brilliant two-hour film.”
Is there anything about the production process that might surprise fans?
Trout: “Maybe the amount of people who work on it? You’re talking to me, which is a little unfair for all the other people, and, look, I get it. But with each team [during In Season], we probably have anywhere from eight-to-15 people, so multiply that by four (32-60). And then there are probably 80-to-100 back at NFL Films who are logging the footage as it comes in, putting it all in the correct bins so it’s all cross-referenceable. Then there’s the music department and the audio department.
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“And then because we don’t care about the stuff that’s on whiteboards in rooms and we don’t want to tilt the competitive edge, we have people who will blur that stuff just to make sure that it doesn’t get out. So, the amount of people working 24 hours a day to get this show on air… When the Eagles played on Monday night, our show aired 24 hours and 40 minutes later with a nine-minute cut of that game in the episode. And that comes from an editing team working overnight.”
Looking at the landscape of NFL content, some teams have tried to put together their own versions of “Hard Knocks,” but it’s never as in-depth or high-quality. It’s crazy to see how “Hard Knocks” has inspired so many teams. What do you make of how “Hard Knocks” has influenced so much content across the NFL and, really, all of sports?
Trout: “It’s awesome. It’s something I think NFL Films is super proud of, to be that first one. But also it makes it so you can’t just rest on your laurels. And that’s why we’re trying to reinvent ourselves when it makes the most sense and in the most sensible way. And that’s why you see ‘In Season,’ that’s why you see ‘Offseason,’ and there might be other things down the road too. But I think because we started that trend, we want to stay up there. So, of course, imitation is the best form of flattery. So, we love it.
“And we’ve actually had pitches, people come to us about different pitch ideas and they’ll use, ‘Okay, we want to do Hard Knocks of blank.’ I’m making this up [as an example] but, ‘We want to do Hard Knocks of bowling.’ They use ‘Hard Knocks’ now as almost a verb, so that’s really, really cool. And there are a couple [of people] who’ve worked on every ‘Hard Knocks,’ but I’m not one of them. I came to NFL Films in ‘04, so I missed the first couple. But the thing about those who’ve done it since 2001, it’s a pretty cool place to [be], but you’ve got to still be on your toes.”
All episodes of “Hard Knocks: In Season With the NFC East” are now available to stream on HBO Max.
