If you go back 15 to 20 years, there was a huge selection of NFL Games and many of them were really good with interesting mechanics and improvements made for evey new iteration. Sega had the NFL 2K series, Sony did NFL GameDay, and Microsoft had NFL Fever - and of course, there were the Madden games as well.
But that all ended when EA signed a 15-year-long exclusivity deal with NFL for the rights to make games based on the sport, and without competition, the general quality levels took a nose-dive. Generally speaking, EA's NFL games (they have been the only NFL titles of late) have struggled to match games that depict the NBA, MBL and soccer, digital sports where there has been huge competition that in turn has prompted constant improvements. But fortunately for fans, those 15 years will soon come to an end, when the exclusivity deal apparently expires at the end of the 2021 season (in early 2022, according to Polygon).
Apparently, after changes made to the ongoing deal with EA, 2K Games has been able to sign a deal with the NFL and will be making "non-simulation" games based on the sport. Exactly what that means remains to be seen, and we assume it will be pretty hard to decide what is a simulation and what is not, although perhaps that means a more arcade focus, like the NFL Blitz games of old. We'll just have to wait and see.
This deal apparently spans several years, and hopefully, we'll once again be able to get some healthy competition when it comes to digital American football. We really need it after 15 years alone with Madden.