Jul 22, 2026 · 30 min · 15 segments
Matt Simms is joined by NFL Films supervising producer and Quarterback showrunner Joe Zucco to discuss how the Netflix series is made from behind the scenes. Zucco shares how the crew earns trust with…
Joe ZuccoGuest
Matt SimmsHost
Like, I'm so curious because here I am at home, right, watching and enjoying the show right now into season three.
And just what is it like as far as behind the scenes for you in that preparation for, of course, finding the quarterbacks? But then how big is the team that goes into making a show like quarterback possible?
uh it's it's a really big team i mean first of all each season you know when selecting the quarterbacks and asking them to participate and stuff you know we want to try to mix it up a little bit each year and uh this year was exciting because we had the number one overall pick was our first rookie that we've had on in the three seasons so that's certainly different and then you look you know like what's a completely different story than number one overall pick how about a four-year-old quarterback right and then we fill in with Jaden Daniels, second-year guy, obviously had an incredible rookie season, so really excited about that.
And then Baker Mayfield, as someone who's worked at NFL Film for a long time, we'd mic up a lot of players.
As you know, all the time, we've had Baker mic'd many times and knew that he would be pure gold entertainment because, you know, if anybody has seen the show yet and if you haven't tuned in, Baker is a must-watch team.
But as far as the team goes, I mean, one thing that that we do to to really help the quarterbacks comfortable is we assign one director to each quarterback so each quarterback had their own director that was out there um so there's a director there's a director of photography audio person that's with each quarterback you know a lot throughout the season then here back at nfl films we have a team of usually rotating but they're probably averaging 10 to 12 producer editors that are watching footage, going through it all the time.
In addition to an army of production assistants, our post-production staff, it really is a giant undertaking.
It's really it's so fascinating to me just like because of course I I was fortunate to play the position in the NFL and to be in those rooms and to even have the thought of like a camera crew following me around with all the other stuff that I had on the to do list right of being an NFL quarterback.
So what is that conversation like that lead up to it? How do you go about making the players feel comfortable? How do you go about making also your staff feel comfortable with navigating being in an NFL facility like that, following a star quarterback and going through just the day to day?
I mean, probably the most important part of the whole process of making the quarterback comfortable, making the team comfortable, their teammates and everything.
The last thing that we ever want to do is be any sort of distraction, right? So a lot goes into that.
So first of all, the fact that it's us, NFL Films, doing it, most of the players have all been around us for a little while, obviously Cam being a rookie added to that point, so we have a little bit of built-in trust there, but we're able to really stay back, still capture tight, intimate moments, but from a distance with the different lensing we have, the audio technology, the microphones that we have.
We're able to do it from such a distance and really stay out of their way to a point where, We want them to forget that we're there so that they're their natural self.
So if we're filming a conversation on the sideline and you're talking to your center about you want to snap a different way and we're two feet away from you, you might have that conversation a little differently than if we're 25 feet away from you and just shooting with a longer lens.
So that's really the whole thing is to be the fly on the wall and hope that they forget that we're
and how much fun do you guys have right as a team right because i mean that's what we have to remember too right you're working with teams but you guys are a team as well right you're in the embodiment of what the nfl and just teamwork is all about right from the film aspect of it how much fun is just the the team meeting of going through like the mix and matching right you're mixologists of quarterbacks right like i love When Joe Flacco's name was brought up, I mean, did everyone just smile ear to ear and be like, yeah, let's definitely ask our boy Joey Flaxseed to join us?
Like, I'm so curious because here I am at home, right, watching and enjoying the show right now into season three.
And just what is it like as far as behind the scenes for you in that preparation for, of course, finding the quarterbacks? But then how big is the team that goes into making a show like quarterback possible?
uh it's it's a really big team i mean first of all each season you know when selecting the quarterbacks and asking them to participate and stuff you know we want to try to mix it up a little bit each year and uh this year was exciting because we had the number one overall pick was our first rookie that we've had on in the three seasons so that's certainly different and then you look you know like what's a completely different story than number one overall pick how about a four-year-old quarterback right and then we fill in with Jaden Daniels, second-year guy, obviously had an incredible rookie season, so really excited about that.
And then Baker Mayfield, as someone who's worked at NFL Film for a long time, we'd mic up a lot of players.
As you know, all the time, we've had Baker mic'd many times and knew that he would be pure gold entertainment because, you know, if anybody has seen the show yet and if you haven't tuned in, Baker is a must-watch team.
But as far as the team goes, I mean, one thing that that we do to to really help the quarterbacks comfortable is we assign one director to each quarterback so each quarterback had their own director that was out there um so there's a director there's a director of photography audio person that's with each quarterback you know a lot throughout the season then here back at nfl films we have a team of usually rotating but they're probably averaging 10 to 12 producer editors that are watching footage, going through it all the time.
In addition to an army of production assistants, our post-production staff, it really is a giant undertaking.
It's really it's so fascinating to me just like because of course I I was fortunate to play the position in the NFL and to be in those rooms and to even have the thought of like a camera crew following me around with all the other stuff that I had on the to do list right of being an NFL quarterback.
So what is that conversation like that lead up to it? How do you go about making the players feel comfortable? How do you go about making also your staff feel comfortable with navigating being in an NFL facility like that, following a star quarterback and going through just the day to day?
I mean, probably the most important part of the whole process of making the quarterback comfortable, making the team comfortable, their teammates and everything.
The last thing that we ever want to do is be any sort of distraction, right? So a lot goes into that.
So first of all, the fact that it's us, NFL Films, doing it, most of the players have all been around us for a little while, obviously Cam being a rookie added to that point, so we have a little bit of built-in trust there, but we're able to really stay back, still capture tight, intimate moments, but from a distance with the different lensing we have, the audio technology, the microphones that we have.
We're able to do it from such a distance and really stay out of their way to a point where, We want them to forget that we're there so that they're their natural self.
So if we're filming a conversation on the sideline and you're talking to your center about you want to snap a different way and we're two feet away from you, you might have that conversation a little differently than if we're 25 feet away from you and just shooting with a longer lens.
So that's really the whole thing is to be the fly on the wall and hope that they forget that we're
and how much fun do you guys have right as a team right because i mean that's what we have to remember too right you're working with teams but you guys are a team as well right you're in the embodiment of what the nfl and just teamwork is all about right from the film aspect of it how much fun is just the the team meeting of going through like the mix and matching right you're mixologists of quarterbacks right like i love When Joe Flacco's name was brought up, I mean, did everyone just smile ear to ear and be like, yeah, let's definitely ask our boy Joey Flaxseed to join us?
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