Are you ready for some football… With dogs? Don’t get too excited, the NFL hasn’t suddenly booted up their own Puppy Bowl, nor is this football played by dogs (though I believe there’s no rule that says a dog can’t play football). However, the American Kennel Club (AKC) is rolling out a brand new special titled NFL Dog Plays of the Year, featuring NFL player interviews, and a deeper look at their faithful canine companions.
Hosted by Jesse Palmer, best known for hosting The Bachelor as well as being a college football analyst for ESPN, as well as reporter Carolyn Manno, the one-hour-long special will find the duo interviewing NFL players past and present, as well as exploring dog sports like Agility, Diving Dogs, Fastest Dog, Disc Dog, and Flyball.
“We are thrilled for sports fans to get an in-depth look at some of our most action-packed dog sports,” said Gina DiNardo, Executive Secretary, AKC, via a press release. “Introducing these stellar professional athletes to high-level AKC canine competitors at the top of their games will be fun and exciting to watch! AKC Dog sports rely heavily on the human-canine bond that forms through training your dog, and we hope dog owners will aspire to train and compete with their own dogs.”
Sounds fun, right? You probably have a few more questions, such as how you can watch NFL Dog Plays of the Year, what channel it’s on, and which sports superstars are involved. So let’s get into it.
Which sports stars (and dogs) are in NFL Dog Plays of the Year?
Per AKC, Cris Carter, Tony Richardson, Santana Moss, and Durham Smythe from the Miami Dolphins will all be featured in the special. In addition, according to the release, “AKC National Agility Champion Jenn Crank and her dog Bee will demonstrate how Agility Dog Sports work, and give former NFL player Santana Moss a tutorial on the similarities between dog agility and professional sports.”
Don’t worry, you’ll get to see more NFL stars interact with cute dogs throughout the hour, though as of press time we do not know the dogs’ names or breeds.
When is NFL Dog Plays of the Year on TV?
NFL Dog Plays of the Year will air Friday, February 2, 2024 at 9:30 pm ET on ESPN.
If you miss the initial airing, it will repeat twice on other channels: Saturday, February 3 at 8:00 am ET on NFL; and Saturday, February 3 at 9:00 am ET on ESPN2.
How to watch NFL Dog Plays of the Year, live and online free:
If you have a subscription to ESPN through your cable provider, you should be good to go to watch NFL Dog Plays of the Year. You can also watch online live through the ESPN livestream in your web browser at ESPN.com, or in the ESPN App.
If you don’t have a cable subscription, there are a number of other options available to watch ESPN live: DirecTV, Sling, Hulu with Live TV, Fubo TV, YouTube TV, Spectrum and Vidgo all include ESPN in some packages.
However, you may not be able to watch NFL Dog Plays of the Year through ESPN+, as that streams different content than the live ESPN feed.