The Kicker’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ Spoof, Starring Darrell Hammond, Arrives In Time For NFL Season

The NFL is back, and there’s no better way to ring in the new season than by reminding fantasy football players that they don’t need to be so serious about their teams. The Kicker, a sports-based destination launched in 2015 by Above Average, has teamed up with NBC Sports for Draftsville, a web series that spoofs Friday Night Lights.

Above Average is closely linked to Saturday Night Live producer Broadway Video, and its content has often featured SNL players. Draftsville is no different; one of its stars, Darrell Hammond, spent 14 seasons as a cast member on NBC’s sketch comedy show. Here, he joins Ryan Farrell, who plays a gruff but compassionate coach who is ready to inspire his athletes toward football glory. The only catch is that he’s not an actual football coach, but rather a fantasy football manager who puts way too much stock in his team. His deadpan delivery of his character’s absurd overreactions to fantasy football matchups forms the heart of Draftsville

Draftsville is funny stuff, and Hammond’s performance is reminiscent of the inspired turn Jason Sudeikis delivered as the fictional, All-American soccer coach Ted Lasso, the protagonist of a pair of NBC Sports videos. Those clips both went viral, and with its new series, NBC is testing whether it can mine more gold from the “SNL alum spoofs cantankerous old sports man” genre. New episodes of Draftsville will arrive each Thursday across NBC Sports’ digital distribution network.