If you want to know what “hire and fire” looks like in practice in the USA, just follow the current situation of Jakob Johnson. With all due respect for the mechanisms in the NFL: it doesn’t work that way. A commentary.

In many ways, the world ticks differently in the US than it does here, including in sports.

Whether footballer, basketball player or handball player – anyone in Germany who is under contract with a club and is paid is also guaranteed this place and does not have to fear being out on the street the next morning.

However, the situation is different in the NFL in particular. The widespread American “hire and fire” mentality, where someone is hired with the knowledge that they can be fired at any time, is taken to extremes in the American football league. German professional Jakob Johnson is currently experiencing the effects of this questionable system almost every week.

On Thursday, just ten days before the NFL Munich Game 2024, Johnson was released by the Giants – and not for the first time this season, but yet again.

Since signing his first contract in New York a good ten weeks ago, Johnson has repeatedly moved between the practice squad, the active squad and unemployment. This is a normal process in the NFL business. But that doesn’t mean that certain mechanisms in the league can’t be critically questioned.

Of course, players in the NFL also enjoy certain benefits. It is common practice for professionals to be allowed to strike for new contracts. However, this usually only applies to the top stars who are difficult to replace for a team in terms of quality. All others are interchangeable.

Small lights like Johnson get no respect in the NFL

In short: anyone who is a small light in the NFL is treated like interchangeable parts. No humanity whatsoever.

Players without the appropriate clauses can be sent packing at any time during the trade period and have to change the center of their lives from one day to the next, without even having a say in the matter. Others live with the fear at all times that their current working day may be their last.

The Johnson case, however, takes this already questionable system to the extreme. The Giants apparently see the 29-year-old as predestined to be able to move him back and forth within the rules at low cost. But here, too, the human aspect should be considered.

Yes, Johnson has a hard time as a fullback in the current NFL. His position is threatened with extinction, only a few teams even rely on a running back for the running back. Johnson lacks the skills for other positions, so it is certainly an honor for him to still be in the orbit of the best football league in the world.

But players like the Stuttgart native also have the right to be treated with respect. And respect also means being given a clear perspective. Is the franchise planning on keeping a player or not?

The attractiveness of the league and the knowledge that millions of American teenagers would like to be in Johnson’s position at some point in the future do not give the NFL the right to treat people like toys that are disposed of when they are no longer needed.

The argument that the USA is different and that’s just how the system works there is not an excuse.