Editing Playmakers (section)

{{Short description|2003 American sports drama TV series}}
{{About|the television program||Playmaker (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2008}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Playmakers DVD cover.jpg
| caption              = DVD cover
| genre                = [[Drama (film and television)|Drama]]
| creator              = [[John Eisendrath]]
| starring             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Anthony Denison|Tony Denison]]
* [[Omar Gooding]]
* [[Russell Hornsby]]
* [[Jason Matthew Smith]]
* [[Marcello Thedford]]
* [[Christopher Wiehl]]
}}
| music                = [[Lou Natale]]
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 1
| num_episodes         = 11
| executive_producer   = {{Plainlist|
* John Eisendrath
* [[Orly Adelson]]
}}
| producer             = Jamie Paul Rock
| editor               = 
| location             = [[Toronto]]
| cinematography       = John Berrie
| camera               = 
| company              = {{Plainlist|
* Thanksgiving Day
* [[Imagine Television]]
* Orly Adelson Productions
* [[Touchstone Television]]
}}
| runtime              = 43–47 minutes
| channel              = [[ESPN]]
| first_aired          = {{Start date|2003|8|26}}
| last_aired           = {{End date|2003|11|11}}
| related              =  
}}

'''''Playmakers''''' is an American [[drama (film and television)|drama]] television series created by [[John Eisendrath]] that aired on [[ESPN]] from August 26 to November 11, 2003. It depicts the lives of the Cougars, a fictional [[professional sports|professional]] [[American football|football]] team playing in an unidentified city. The show stars [[Anthony Denison|Tony Denison]], [[Omar Gooding]], [[Russell Hornsby]], [[Jason Matthew Smith]], [[Marcello Thedford]], and [[Christopher Wiehl]]. The show, which ran eleven episodes, was the first original drama series created by ESPN. Although the ratings were very high for ESPN&mdash;''Playmakers'' was the highest-rated show on the network other than its [[ESPN Sunday Night Football|Sunday night NFL]] and Saturday college football games&mdash;ESPN eventually canceled the series under pressure from the [[National Football League]], who disliked the portrayal of the negative aspects of its players' lives off the field.<ref>{{cite news |title= PRO FOOTBALL; Citing N.F.L., ESPN Cancels 'Playmakers'|first= Richard|last= Sandomir|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/sports/pro-football-citing-nfl-espn-cancels-playmakers.html|newspaper= [[New York Times]]|date= February 5, 2004|access-date=July 24, 2012}}</ref>