A Historic Weekend for the NFL

This weekend, six female coaches will be on the sideline for wildcard football games.

This Wildcard Weekend is historic because, it’s the first time that 6 games will be played, and in those 6 games, 6 female coaches will be on the sidelines. In what is considered a very “manly” sport, these 6 women are absolute trailblazers.

Chelsea Romero of the L.A Rams, Maral Javadifar for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Cristi Bartlett of the Tennessee Titans are all apart of their respective staffs in the strength and conditioning departments.

Romero for the Ram’s is the full time, seasonal intern for the strength and conditioning unit. The California State University, Northridge graduate received the news that she obtained the position this summer and has had the opportunity to work with some of the leagues best players like Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.

Javadifar enters her second season as the Buccaneers assistant strength and conditioning coach under Bruce Arians who has built a diverse coaching staff with Byron Leftwitch, Antwaan Randle El, and Lori Locust.

For Titans seasonal assistant strength and conditioning coach, Cristi Bartlett, this isn’t her first rodeo. She has worked in the XFL as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for 8 months and with UPenn, Morehead State University, and James Madison.

The Buccaneers have another female coach on their staff, Lori Locust, who is the assistant defensive line coach. The players Locust works with day in and day out are elite pass rushers like Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh, and Shaq Barrett. The Buccaneers pass rushers have amassed 48 sacks this season and Locust could be a good reason for that.

Jennifer King is currently a coaching intern with the Washington Football Team who is taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I’m sure that King has absorbed a boat load of knowledge while being under Ron Rivera’s thumb. King was also, on the AAF’s, Arizona Hot Shots roster as a coach.

Last, but certainly not least of the females on the sidelines this weekend is Cleveland Browns Chief of Staff, Callie Brownson. Brownson was the first Division 1 football coach after she was promoted by Dartmouth. She also, became the first woman to coach a position group in a game when she filled in to coach tight ends this season in week 12 for Cleveland. If any of these women hold a head coaching job in the future, I believe Brownson will be that person.

This season, all around sports has been huge for women. Sarah Fuller became the first female to play in a Division 1 Power 5 game as she kicked vs Missouri and scored two extra points against Tennessee. In the NBA, Becky Hammon became the first female to be the head coach in a game when Greg Popovich was ejected from a matchup vs the Lakers on December 30th.

Women in the sports world, holding powerful roles, is definitely going to become a trend and as fans and consumers of these sports we absolutely love to see this.