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Recipes

Use copy-paste request patterns for common tasks.

These examples are the fastest way to reuse a working pattern for one object, one field, one season outcome, or one raw reference record.

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Recipes

Common Requests With Stable Patterns

These are intended as practical building blocks for real product screens, scripts, or internal tooling. Start here when you know the task you want, but do not want to scan the whole reference.

Best For

Copy-Paste Starting Points

Use this page when you want a working request pattern immediately and do not need to reason through the full endpoint map first.

Use When

You Know The Task, Not The Route

Recipes are the fastest path when you know the job to do, like finding a key, pulling one field, or reading one season slice, but not the exact endpoint family yet.

Common Patterns

Find Key Then Pull Slice

Most production flows follow one of two patterns here: find the canonical key first, or pull a broader slice once and switch to a narrower field drilldown after that.

Avoid

Do Not Treat Recipes As Discovery Only

If you still do not know which object family you need, start with the identifiers or core endpoints pages first, then come back here once the route family is clear.

Common Recipe

Get one coach profile

Use the coach page route when you want the main coach object for a single person.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/coaches/mike-vrabel

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "coach_key": "mike-vrabel"
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one contributor profile

Use the contributor route when the person lives in NFLMeta as a Hall of Fame contributor rather than a player, coach, or executive.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/contributors/bill-nunn

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "identity": {
      "contributor_key": "bill-nunn"
    }
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one current staff profile

Use the staff route when you want the current assistant, coordinator, or support-staff profile for one person.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/staff/frank-cignetti-jr

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "identity": {
      "staff_key": "frank-cignetti-jr"
    }
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one executive career slice

Use the executive career slice when you need tenure and role context without the full profile payload.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/executives/robert-kraft/career

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "first_year": 1994,
    "last_year": 2026
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one game field only

Use a field drilldown when you need a single value like weather, stadium, or kickoff.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/games/11565/weather

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "field": "weather",
    "value": "..."
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one team stadium field

Use a focused team slice or a team field drilldown instead of loading the full team payload.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/teams/NE/stadium/city

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "field": "city",
    "value": "Foxborough"
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one season outcome

Season drilldowns are the easiest way to fetch one season-level result like champion, winner, or summary fields.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/season/2024/champion_team_abbr

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "field": "champion_team_abbr",
    "value": "..."
  }
}
Common Recipe

Get one raw venue record

Use reference endpoints when you want a row that stays close to the underlying table shape.

Request

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/reference/venues/geha-field-at-arrowhead-stadium

Response Shape

{
  "data": {
    "venue_key": "geha-field-at-arrowhead-stadium"
  }
}
Workflow Recipe

Find a game id, then pull one game field

Use the games index first, copy the returned id, then switch to the smaller single-field route when the client only needs one value.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' 'https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/games?season=2024&team=PIT'

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/games/11565/weather
Workflow Recipe

Find a player key, then pull a career slice

This is the normal pattern when you know the person but not the canonical player key yet.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' 'https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players?q=lamar'

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players/lamar-jackson/career
Workflow Recipe

Pull one kicker season, then one stat

Use the specialist season slice when you want clean kicking rows without mixing them into the broader player career payload.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players/gsis:00-0031136/kicking/2025

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players/gsis:00-0031136/kicking/2025/fgm_total
Workflow Recipe

Pull one punter season net average

Use the punting slice for punting-specific rows and field drilldowns like net average, touchbacks, or punts inside the 20.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players/gsis:00-0034721/punting/2025

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/players/gsis:00-0034721/punting/2025/net_avg
Workflow Recipe

Find a current staff key, then pull one bio field

Use the staff list first when you know the person but not the current canonical staff key, then switch to the narrower bio field route.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' 'https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/staff?search=cignetti&team=PIT'

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/staff/frank-cignetti-jr/bio/biography
Workflow Recipe

Find a contributor, then pull one bio field

Use the contributor list first, then switch to a narrow field drilldown when you only need one narrative or source field.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' 'https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/contributors?search=nunn'

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/contributors/bill-nunn/bio/wikipedia_summary
Workflow Recipe

Find an executive, then pull one tenure field

Use the executive list when you only know the person or team, then switch to the career slice or field route for tenure reads.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' 'https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/executives?search=kraft'

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/executives/robert-kraft/career/years_total
Workflow Recipe

Pull one Hall of Fame ballot year, then one field

Use the Hall of Fame election-year route when you need the full grouped ballot, or switch to the field drilldown for a smaller payload.

Step 1

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/hall-of-fame/2021

Step 2

curl -H 'X-NFLMeta-Key: YOUR_KEY' https://nflmeta.org/api/v1/hall-of-fame/2021/inductee_count