NFL Facts

It takes about 3,000 cow hides to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were originally called the Pirates.

Homer Jones had just caught his first NFL touchdown in 1965, an 89-yard catch for the Giants, and he planned to throw the ball into the stands. A new league rule fined players for doing exactly that, so at the goal line he changed his mind and slammed the ball into the turf instead. The Giants credit him with inventing the spike, and it remains an NFL touchdown celebration.

Tom Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a catcher in the 1995 MLB Draft. The scout ranked him a late second-round talent but placed him in round 18 - they knew his Michigan football scholarship made him impossible to sign. Brady chose football and won seven Super Bowls. Asked where baseball would have led, Brady said: "I would be selling insurance."

Terry Crews worked as a courtroom sketch artist in Flint before the NFL. He won a scholarship to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He then entered Western Michigan on an art scholarship, before switching to football. When teams cut him from NFL rosters, he painted portraits of teammates - charging $5,000 each. The muscle-bound action star is a trained, photorealistic portrait artist.

Jalen Hurts kept hearing the same story. Philadelphia schools were sending kids home early because classrooms were too hot. So the Eagles quarterback paid to install air conditioning in ten schools himself. More than 300 units later, over 5,000 students and staff have cool classrooms. Now every touchdown he scores pays for more.

Joe Burrow's 2019 Heisman speech stunned everyone. He choked up talking about hungry kids back home in Athens, Ohio. Six years later, his foundation helped build the fix. The Joe Burrow Foundation partnered with Hocking College to launch the 740 Rescue Kitchen. Now it feeds families across ten counties in southeast Ohio.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have made 87 USO tours since 1979, when their first trip took them to South Korea. By the USO's own count, no other entertainment group has toured more. They have performed on flight decks and in war zones across more than 40 countries. This spring they were back aboard a Navy aircraft carrier. They still go every year.

The Lambeau Leap is Green Bay's touchdown ritual: score, then dive into the stands. It began by accident on Dec. 26, 1993: Reggie White scooped a fumble, lateraled to LeRoy Butler, who scored and leaped into the crowd. Replays later showed White stepped out of bounds before the toss. The NFL banned celebrations in 2000 and 2014 but kept the Leap. Nearly every Packers touchdown at Lambeau still ends there.

The football huddle is credited to one deaf quarterback hiding his hands. In 1894, Gallaudet played a game against another deaf team. Quarterback Paul Hubbard called plays in sign language, open for anyone to read. So he had his teammates circle up tight before every snap. That circle became the huddle, copied by teams everywhere. Teams still huddle up today, from Friday night lights to the NFL, 132 years later.

Philip Rivers, an eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback, has coached a high school team in Fairhope, Alabama since 2021. In December 2025 the Colts signed him off that sideline at 44 and he started three games. In January he interviewed for the Bills head coaching job, then withdrew. He is back coaching high-school football in Fairhope this fall.

Former NFL lineman Brandon Bair watched a train hit a semi in St. Anthony, Idaho, then ran toward the burning cab as the train crew climbed out and warned him back. He reached through the broken back window, unbuckled the trapped driver, shoved the steering wheel off him and pulled him out. Seconds after they got clear, fire filled the cab. Bair later received the Carnegie Medal for civilian heroism.

The Terrible Towel is the gold rag every Steelers fan waves at every game. The team does not own it. Myron Cope invented it as a radio gimmick before a 1975 playoff game. He gave the entire trademark to a school for people with disabilities. His own son had lived there for years, and had never spoken a single word. Every official towel sold since has funded that school. Fans are still waving it, fifty years on.

A man bet $50,000 that someone would streak at Super Bowl LV - then streaked himself. Yuri Andrade sprinted onto the field in a hot pink swimsuit and expected to collect about $374,000 across multiple Bovada accounts at +750 odds. The sportsbook connected the linked accounts and voided every bet. He paid a fine, did 100 hours community service, and wrote an apology letter to the NFL. He netted negative money.