The latest episode of The Franchise debuted this week and we’ve got a complete review/rundown of the Kansas City Chiefs docuseries.
The fourth episode of Kansas City Chiefs’ docuseries The Franchise wraps up the series’ coverage of the team’s offseason as the organization is gearing up for training camp. While the previous two episodes focused attention on the draft and roster building, “The Non-Season” turns a good chunk of its focus on some of extracurriculars that come with the offseason.
After a brief glimpse at OTAs, we see Chiefs rookies appearing at Lincoln College Prep, where the team’s original home field of Municipal Stadium once resided. Clark Hunt touches on the team wanting to preserve the team’s history at the location and presents a $250,000 donation to K.C. public schools. The 2019 season is the NFL’s 100th and the Chiefs’ 60th, so this will no-doubt be only one of many look-backs to the league’s past this year.
The Chiefs player who gets some singular screentime in “The Non-Season” is wide receiver Gehrig Dieter. He’s a popular name among Chiefs fans as the prerequisite bottom of the depth chart receiver who everyone wants to see get more touches. It’s a more difficult proposition than on a typical NFL squad, considering the Chiefs’ are overflowing with elite receiving talent. But Dieter is entering his 3rd year in Andy Reid‘s system, which tends to bode well for a guy seeing a bit more playing time.
Off the field, we see Gehrig accompanying his wife Meg at K.C.’s Pit Bull Day. Passionate about animals and dogs in particular, the couple has a dog from each city they’ve lived in. Gehrig and Meg reflect on the difficult road for an undrafted free agent to make it on an NFL roster, with Gehrig revealing he chose to sign with the Chiefs over his childhood favorite Green Bay Packers.
Then the episode recaps the Julian Edelman muffed punt that never was in last season’s AFC Championship. Dieter was the one who recovered it, meaning as of now the biggest moment of his NFL career is one that didn’t technically happen. To be honest, I had nearly forgotten about that play. So it was an especially cold reminder of just how many way the Chiefs almost won that game.
A quick visit with the video production team is next. The video packages that run on the Arrowhead Stadium jumbotrons are all shot in one marathon of a day. Those packages are always incredibly well produced and do their job of hyping the crowd well. So the juxtaposition of knowing what the final product will look like with just how stilted and awkward a lot of the players are as they’re flexing and mugging for the cameras in full uniform standing in front of a green screen is pretty great.
The episode finishes up at the Big Slick Celebrity Softball Game. Everyone in K.C. knows this charity game well, but it’s cool to get a little on-the-field look at some of the city’s famous comedians. Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggle all fawning over Patrick Mahomes here and it is kind of adorable to watch celebrities gush over other celebrities. The episode concludes with Mahomes hitting a home run in the game, complete with bat flip. If only a Super Bowl was as easy as a charity softball dinger.
The Franchise airs Wednesdays @ 6:00 p.m. C.T. on FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports Kansas City, as well as streaming on Facebook Watch and YouTube. You can also see it at the Chiefs official site.