How to make the NFL draft a better viewing experience.
Welcome to the sixth installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.
NFL draft coverage was the hot topic of the week. I’ll handle these three at once.
Is the draft sneakily the worst show on TV? Goodell pretending to like boos, obsession w/Levis waiting, canned pieces, draft “experts” and their silly, unfounded grades? Can’t watch >8 minutes at a time.
— DrNachoMD (@DrNachoMD) May 1, 2023
Jimmy Traina has been given the opportunity to head up the NFL Draft production next year. What changes does he make? (Please start with eliminating the single pick, team-specific announcers)
— RyRy76 (@RyanMichael2244) May 2, 2023
What were your thoughts around the draft coverage from ESPN/ABC and the NFL Network? Good? The Bad? The Ugly? #SIMediaMailbag
— Christopher Vancheri (@CVancheri) May 1, 2023
While “worst show on TV” is incredibly strong, I do agree that the draft is difficult to watch in its entirety. Clearly, though, many NFL fans disagree, because this year’s draft drew six million viewers. I just think the 10 minutes in between picks during the first round make for a rough viewing experience after the first few picks. I’d love to see that get cut down to five minutes.
I don’t have any issues with any of the panelists on ESPN, ABC or NFL Network. The analysts all know their stuff and the respective hosts, Mike Greenberg, Rece Davis and last week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast guest, Rich Eisen, are all extremely polished and smooth.
It would be nice, though, if analysts didn’t tell me that every single player drafted is great. It’s not easy to take shots at a college kid who is in the middle of what is probably the greatest night of his life, but not every single player has to be made out to be a future Hall of Famer.
More useless: mock drafts, draft grades, or Mel Kiper's pumpkin pie eating habits?
— BarryB (@Kikuyu09) May 1, 2023
In order of uselessness:
3. Mel Kiper’s pumpkin pie habit
2. Draft grades
1. Mock drafts
I’m offended you’d include Mel Kiper’s pumpkin pie eating habits in this list. I’d much rather consume content about Mel Kiper eating pumpkin pie for breakfast and a night time snack every single day than read a mock draft.
Who is the bigger overall entity 5 years from now? Pat McAfee or Dan LeBatard/Meadowlark?
— Aaron Klueber (@AKlueber) May 1, 2023
I’m going to go with McAfee only because of the various hats he wears. In addition to hosting a daily show, McAfee is a host on College GameDay and part of the WWE. Plus, with rumblings that McAfee is about to embark on a new venture, possibly with ESPN, I would expect his empire to keep expanding,
Who is the early favorite to be the new anaylst next to Sean McDonough on the College Football B team if you had to guess right now?
— Robert Zoline (@RobertZoline) May 1, 2023
Sean McDonough’s longtime partner, Todd Blackledge, left ESPN/ABC for NBC’s new Big Ten package, so that leaves a big opening at the network. My prediction is that Dan Orlovsky, who called games last season with Bob Wischusen, will get the gig. ESPN used Orlovsky on the extra NFL games the network had last season when an additional crew was needed, along with Steve Levy and Louis Riddick, so obviously the network is high on him.
Who’s the next big domino to fall amongst the NFL #1 play by play teams and who will replace?
— Patrick Webb (@webb_02) May 2, 2023
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo (CBS), and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (ESPN) have all signed new contracts in recent years, so those crews are locked in. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit have two more years left on their Amazon Prime deals for Thursday Night Football. Mike Tirico just took over as the voice of Sunday Night Football for NBC, so he’s not going anywhere. Tirico’s partner, Cris Collinsworth, is reportedly under contract through 2025. The wild card is Fox. Kevin Burkhardt will be the network’s lead play-by-play guy for a long, long time. The future of his partner, Greg Olsen, though, is in Tom Brady’s hands. If Brady goes into the booth after the 2023 season, Olsen can reportedly leave for another No. 1 analyst job. Could NBC or Amazon try to poach Olsen? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Does Boone make it through the season?
— The Golden Smog (@thatwoitasguy) May 2, 2023
Yankees fans need to understand that firing Aaron Boone is a useless move. The Yankees are managed by computers. Boone is there to run the clubhouse and deal with the media. The change the Yankees need to make that will have an impact is in the front office. Boone’s replacement will be required to use the same analytics for every single decision as Boone, so nothing will change by switching managers.
Top-3 members of the wack pack, all-time?
— Matthew Bubar (@BroIncognito) May 2, 2023
3. Hank
2. Beetle
1. Eric the Actor
Email question:
Why doesn't the NFL add another bye week during the season and then the Super Bowl would be on President’s weekend. This way the NFL looks good about player safety and gets another weekend of football? –David
I think this will eventually happen. My guess is that the NFL will add an 18th regular-season game and extra bye week and then the Super Bowl will be played on the Sunday before President’s Day. The league is never going to move the Super Bowl to Saturday night.
