The Underdoggs follows a former NFL star, Jaycen “Two-J’s” Jennings, who coaches a youth football team to improve his public image. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Jaycen “Two-J’s” Jennings was once an NFL star. He was a player who broke several records and garnered a huge fan base.
However, Jaycen had, and still has, attitude problems. Due to that, no one wanted to play with him after a point, and now he is just another washed-up player.
Jaycen wants a commentary job, so he creates a podcast. However, as Jaycen is always involved in scandals and is one of the most hated celebrities, neither his agent, Ryan, nor the podcast can help Jaycen get the job.
While storming out of Ryan’s office, Jaycen gets into an accident, which is caught on camera. Jaycen is then charged with speeding, reckless endangerment, and damage to city property.
Instead of sentencing him to 5 years in prison, the judge gives him 300 hours of community service with the Long Beach Parks and Recreation Department.
Although Jaycen grew up in Long Beach, he has not been home in 20 years. He is now forced to return to his hometown.
He reunites with his old friend, Kareem, who is a petty criminal. Jaycen reluctantly allows Kareem to stay with him and advises him to think about his life choices.
He also meets Cherise, his ex-girlfriend from high school. He tries to flirt with her, only to be turned down. Cherise has a son, Tre, who is on a youth football team.
When Jaycen finds out that Tre’s team is looking for a head coach, he decides to coach them to garner good PR and impress Cherise at the same time.
Jaycen makes a deal with the Los Angeles County Community Outreach Program, and he is allowed to coach the team as part of completing his community service.
Kareem also decides to turn his life around and becomes the team’s unofficial assistant coach, even though Jaycen initially refuses to let him join the team.
The team has not had a single good coach yet; their coaches keep quitting, and the team keeps losing. As a result, the children are skeptical about Jaycen coaching them.
Their skepticism is not unfounded, as all Jaycen cares about is getting good PR, not the success of the children’s team.
Their first match is against the Colonels, coached by Chip Collins, a man who has been a long-term critic of Jaycen. Without proper coaching, Jaycen’s team does not play well.
The match ends with both teams getting into a fight, and even the referee is injured. Chip Collins takes this opportunity to publicly accuse Jaycen of being responsible for the entire debacle.
Jaycen is chastised by Cherise when he takes out his frustration on the children. He then meets his high school coach, Coach Feis.
Coach Feis tries to make Jaycen see that these children do not have a single thing working for them. They are the underdogs, just like Jaycen once was.
As a result, Jaycen tries to coach them sincerely. He gives them his playbook, buys them new jerseys, assigns each player a nickname, and changes the team’s name to Underdoggs.
As he gets to know each player, he starts understanding how to bring out their potential and trains them accordingly. Additionally, he grows with the team.
He sees his past self in Tre, who is not a team player, and realizes why no one wanted to play with him. Jaycen advises Tre to stop pushing his team away if he does not want to end up like him.
Tre takes his advice and ends up becoming a team player. Jaycen also helps the children deal with their personal issues, including financial and family problems.
Jaycen talks to Cherise about their breakup, which happened because Cherise had her own hopes and dreams, but Jaycen thought she was just jealous of his success.
Jaycen apologizes to Cherise for their past. As Cherise watches Jaycen help the team improve, it becomes evident to her that he is no longer the selfish man she once knew.
Ending explained:
Long-awaited opportunity
Jaycen keeps posting about his team on social media, and he finally starts getting good PR for coaching a children’s team from a poor neighborhood.
Surprisingly, the children start receiving more attention than Jaycen. The internet comes to know them by their nicknames and grows fond of them.
Under Jaycen’s guidance, the Underdoggs keep winning all the games and reach the Youth Football League Championship.
Jaycen then gets a call from Ryan, who tells him that he has been offered a weekly show on Fox Sports. Jaycen finally gets the opportunity he has been waiting for.
The only problem is that he has to announce the show on the day of the championship final, which means he will have to miss his team’s game.
The choice
Jaycen has to make a choice between the children he has grown attached to and getting back into the limelight.
When the children learn about Jaycen’s predicament, they realize that they might be abandoned by yet another coach, leading to an argument between Jaycen and the team.
Jaycen disappoints the team, Kareem, and Cherise when he chooses to leave the team to announce his show, but this decision does not bring him happiness.
While appearing on Fox Sports, when the hosts talk about family, Jaycen realizes that he left his family, the Underdoggs, behind and decides to return to them.
Victory in defeat
The Underdoggs’ final match is against the Colonels. Jaycen arrives before the match begins and apologizes to the team. He even appoints Kareem as the official assistant coach.
His speech boosts the team’s spirit, and the children play exceptionally well. However, the referee is the same one who was injured during the Underdoggs’ first match with the Colonels.
The referee is blatantly unfair and does not allow the Underdoggs to score, whereas the Colonels manage to score, even though they do not play as well as the Underdoggs.
During half-time, when the Underdoggs feel low, Tre cheers them up by reminding them that they never give up, even when dealt a bad hand.
The children pick themselves back up and don their old jerseys, determined to win. Kareem takes care of the referee by letting his dogs attack him.
The Underdoggs receive everyone’s support and play their best game. Just when it looks like they might win, they end up losing the game.
However, their efforts and team spirit inspire everyone. Unlike last time, Jaycen tells them that he is proud of them and that they made him a better person.
The defeat only makes the team more determined to improve and come back stronger. Although the Underdoggs do not get the trophy, they celebrate like winners.
Jaycen not only gains a family he loves and is proud of but also manages to impress Cherise as he had initially planned.
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