HBO's Hard Knocks has to maintain a balance between access and secrecy. The fans get to spend a few hours with the players and coaches in unusual settings; the coaches go along with the cameras but still get to obscure their plays and play calls from the public. Everybody wins all the time. Well, almost all the time.


Every so often we see a shot like this one, of general manager Jeff Ireland's computer, about halfway through last night's episode, where the NFL lets on more than it wants to. This is the public's first glimpse of the Player Enterprise Management System software, which appears to be a league-wide player management interface. (It could be Dolphins-specific, although all those logos at the top make us think it isn't.)

We see the information that makes the top of every player page—height, weight, speed, Wonderlic, arm length—and then we see how his general manager can mark him. He can be "available," or a "cap casualty," or a "key [free agent]." We also see other sections in the system: "playtime," "penalties," "injuries," and more. Those with access can gather lots of data. No surprise there. The one surprise? Tannehill's cell phone number is in there. Oops. [HBO]