I take it that no one actively says the word ‘tank’ but what does a scenario actually look like from owner down to players? Is everyone in on it? Does the GM talk to the owner, sell them on the next potential big draft prospect? Followed by reassuring the head coach that they will be safe? Followed by the coordinators and then strategically putting good players on IR for ‘their safety’? Putting the players in difficult situations and essentially using any remaining games as evaluations for future seasons?
Good point bringing up game plan changes.
A tanking team could move to a gameplan of just running the clock out regardless of context, since their goal is to end the game as fast as possible and not to win the game. We saw the Giants do this in 2021 vs Bears. The Giants didn’t attempt to win that game at any point, they just wanted to grind the clock out as fast as possible.