Plot Synopsis

"Playmakers" is an 11-episode series that follows a dramatic single season of the Cougars, a fictional professional football team, and chronicles the behind-the-scenes and off-the-field lives of the players, families, coaches and owner. The team's star running back, Demetrius Harris, is addicted to cocaine but can still dominate on the field -- even when he's high. Other players take performance enhancing drugs, such as andro, or take numerous anti-inflammatory pills to maintain that competitive edge. The coach is battling through prostate cancer, the owner is a tyrant, and the team's medical doctor will lie to management. With such stereotypical portrayals, the NFL Players Association quickly complained to ESPN about the series -- after only two or three episodes -- and requested that the network not air additional episodes.