History of NFL Wild Cards: When did the NFL change to 3 wildcards?

With the 2022/23 American National Football League (NFL) regular season over, the focus turns to the postseason, with these results ultimately determining who makes the Super Bowl.

The Philadephia Eagles successfully secured the number one seed in the National Football Conference (NFC), while the Kansas City Chiefs, led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, took the top spot in the American Football Conference (AFC).

What is an NFL wild card?

The NFL, as previously mentioned, is divided into the NFC and AFC, with each of these conferences having 16 teams with those 16 teams divided into four divisions consisting of four teams.

Of the four divisions in each of the two major conferences, the two best teams by record, who do not win their division, are granted wildcard status for the postseason.

The addition of a third wild card team in each division occurred in 2020, after nearly 14 years of deliberation with the NFL finally deciding to add a third wild card team from each conference after years of back and forth regarding the idea.

The first round of games in the postseason are called the Wild Card Playoffs where wildcard teams will face teams seeded between two and four.

After this round, the lowest seeded team remaining in the playoffs will face the Division Winner, while the second lowest seeded team will face the second highest seeded team.

The NFL has been playing for over 100 years and there have been 16 gay or bi players who have come out publicly.

Carl Nassib is No. 16 and the first person to admit to being gay while still active. After being cut by the Raiders following the 2021 season, Nassib signed on August 15, 2022, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team he played for in 2018 and 2019. Nassib played with the Bucs in 2022 and retired from the NFL in September.6.

Having only 16 players among the thousands who have been on preseason, practice squad or regular season NFL rosters (23,000 and counting in a survey conducted in 2014) is not a mistake and shows the stigma that still surrounds those who play football ball. Over the years, Outsports has known of several other players who were gay but never came out, even after retiring. Dave Kopay was the first player to leave, in 1975, three years after retiring after a nine-year career.

“There were a few of us who paved the way and that makes me very happy,” Kopay said of Nassib playing in the regular season.

Even though the number is small, these 16 people are pioneers and have inspired many LGBTQ groups in sports and life, so they should be applauded and don’t forget to visit our site for other interesting information by the page here