Glen Powell Dons Makeup, Wig in Teaser for Football Comedy Chad Powers

On By Littum

According to retired NFL great Eli Manningactor Glen Powell is perhaps best known as “the guy with the shirt of all time Everyone but you.” But as a teaser trailer dropped by Hulu over the weekend makes clear, Powell is also the guy who picked up the football pads and ball that Manning dropped — and ran with it.

Let’s back up. Manning, who quarterbacked the New York Giants for 16 seasons, retired in 2020. As with many name-brand players after their careers, Manning ended up at ESPN, where he worked both as an analyst and on a show called Eli’s places, where he took a humorous look at the college football scene. In one episode of that show, a nearly 40-year-old Manning dons an unconvincing (he’s no jackal, sure) set of facial prosthetics, a mustache and wig as a walk-on player for Penn State named “Chad Powers.” An awkward confusion ensues.

The segment inspired a Hulu series announced last year, but this time it’s Glen Powell in the Powers role, not Manning. The premise of this show is also different, as this time Chad Powers isn’t the pseudonym of a two-time Super Bowl MVP, it’s the name of a fictional character named Russ Holliday, who — as of Hulu – exhibited behavior so bad it derailed his college football career. Holliday, no longer of college age (Powell, who also co-created, co-wrote and co-executive produced the series, is 36), disguises himself to move on to “a struggling Southern football team.” Here’s hoping he has good insurance.

“I don’t know if I like you playing Chad Powers,” Manning jokingly told Powell in an interview in May. “I am Chad Powers.” Manning, who with Bro Payton Manning is listed as an executive producer on the show, and also noted that Powell had previous screen experience in the Top Gun: Maverick. “I saw you throw the football and I was like, ‘yeah, I don’t know about this guy.'”

We already know Powell has what it takes to don silly wigs and disguises based on his role in Hit Man. Is Manning’s gentle ribbing of Powell’s pigskin prowess justified, or will he be able to convince viewers of the series, slated for a 2025 release on Hulu, that he’s a middle-aged football rookie? Perhaps the show’s teaser, released Saturday, will answer that question.