The Draft: Is it just me?

[mwalker]

I just moaned about this on another forum and realized I'd be more interested
in everyone's opinion here. Here's my thoughts, would love to know yours...

The draft (coverage) has become too much about everything other than football.
There's simply just not enough detailed analysis and highlights anymore.
And for real draft geeks (like my self) I think it's worse for it.

There's too much of the Disney-like stories (Trey Wingo sucked this year BTW) and 
not enough football guys talking football detail. I really miss this and feel like there 
was more of it before this became such a red carpet like event that's trying to appeal to 
more than just the football junkies. I think it's swung too far and should get back to more 'football'.

I thought this year might be different with the stay at home situation, but it felt like
all the non football stuff was what got up-weighted. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like
even less detail and analysis than ever.

I know why they've done it (the NFL's push for families, broadening appeal, etc.) but 
I just think the scales have tipped too far. I miss the real football stuff.

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by mwalker

[95lloyd]

What bothered me the most is they focused on the most negative parts of draftee’s lives.  Being homeless, raised by grandparents, dad in jail all kinds of stupid ****.  Worst one ai saw was a guys dad who killed himself because of the meds he was prescribed.  Who needs to know this? Trey Wingo definitely sucked.

[Big Snack]

half way through the 1st round i commented to my  brother watching it with me that I hope none of my kids make it to the league because im sure i will be the dead relative they have to talk about. And it only got worse from there

[Chieferific]

It was a little over board.  Personal stories became part of their profile.

-Big 10 Player of the year

-2nd Team All American

-Dad got drunk and run over by a car

-Mom addicted to drugs for 15 years

- 12 TFL Junior Season

Edited April 28, 2020 by Chieferific

[Ward4HOF]

5 hours ago, mwalker said:

I just moaned about this on another forum and realized I'd be more interested
in everyone's opinion here. Here's my thoughts, would love to know yours...

The draft (coverage) has become too much about everything other than football.
There's simply just not enough detailed analysis and highlights anymore.
And for real draft geeks (like my self) I think it's worse for it.

There's too much of the Disney-like stories (Trey Wingo sucked this year BTW) and 
not enough football guys talking football detail. I really miss this and feel like there 
was more of it before this became such a red carpet like event that's trying to appeal to 
more than just the football junkies. I think it's swung too far and should get back to more 'football'.

I thought this year might be different with the stay at home situation, but it felt like
all the non football stuff was what got up-weighted. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like
even less detail and analysis than ever.

I know why they've done it (the NFL's push for families, broadening appeal, etc.) but 
I just think the scales have tipped too far. I miss the real football stuff.

 

You definitely nailed it--you recognize the problem, and can understand its root cause.  Unfortunately, when draft viewership continues to grow (...and especially this year; the total viewership for Rd 1 literally destroyed the previous record...), it's likely to get much worse long before it gets better, if ever.

This creates a whole different problem, as well, and is a microcosm of society as a whole...the more pitiful your story, the more coverage you get.  What about the kid that grew up in a good family home, with no previous ties to other players/coaches...just a run-of-the-mill story...those guys get nowhere near the amount of attention, because it's not a 'rise from the ashes' story...

At least take solace in the fact that there are quite a few draftnik websites, and posters here, that really concentrate on just the football stuff...so, at least we have that...

 

[August4th]

ESPN has been pushing these kinds of stories up for the past 5-10 yrs.most of the reports that would air on Outside the Lines and ESPN 360 are borderline tragedy porn. I was listening to the BS podcast and Bill said Ratings do go up when they do stuff like that, so it won't go away. I think they should have a more draft focused broadcast air on ESPN2/ESPN+ for the diehards. They can have both(the circus draft and a draft that focuses more on the football side of things)

Edited April 28, 2020 by August4th

[mwalker]

2 hours ago, August4th said:

ESPN has been pushing these kinds of stories up for the past 5-10 yrs.most of the reports that would air on Outside the Lines and ESPN 360 are borderline tragedy porn. I was listening to the BS podcast and Bill said Ratings do go up when they do stuff like that, so it won't go away. I think they should have a more draft focused broadcast air on ESPN2/ESPN+ for the diehards. They can have both(the circus draft and a draft that focuses more on the football side of things)

Ha, "tragedy porn" I hadn't heard that expression, but it's fitting.

Yea, would be great if they covered it more properly on ESPN2.
We all know who Burrow is, but seeing highlights of players less known 
and understanding scheme fit, etc. would just make it more interesting.
Glad I'm not the only one that feels that way.

[43M]

Well, ESPN is owned by Disney, and Disney is terrible, ruining almost everything they touch anymore.

The NFL has become more about money than the sport.  I mean, it always was, but the quality of the game is secondary anymore if a few extra bucks can be made.

I miss the weekend drafts. Draft Saturday's were so fun. 

[bigben07MVP]

I agree with everything said here but this doesn’t fall on Trey Wingo. It’s not his job to find the content or decide what to highlight about a prospect. I thought he did a really good job all things considered. 

But yea the “tragedy porn” and live music interruptions were definitely the two downers about the draft. I also hate how far behind they got on day 3. Kinda made it hard to follow who was getting taken, I had to keep a draft tracker open on my phone. But overall it was well put together for the circumstances and I enjoyed having something to watch and follow for 3 days.

[Dcash4]

Ill just take the other side of this for the fun or argument.

Im really not sure what else you are supposed to do. This year was especially tricky when you have all that air time to fill, but a one man studio, zoom remote commentary, and lose your #2 (or #1, depending on perspective) like a day before the draft in McShay. 

The part I dont like, just as @Chieferific used as an example, is that they added the negatives stories like they were a statistical part of their evaluation for screen grabs. That was bad, talking about the draft picks backgrounds isnt. You have 10+ minutes to fill, with limited back and forth this year in the first round. 

If you had 4 dudes sitting at the same table, you could have back and forth that fills the space -- that's harder to present on TV via remote set up. What more than likely happens is that they knew going in this was going to be a tough space to fill the air entirely, so they did their homework on the personnel side of players so they could have talking points ready to go instead of relying on the video back and forth which can be choppy to get across. 

What's the more proper way to cover the draft? Going over the stats and the fit only take a few minutes. So if you are going to talk away some talking points, you have to fill the space. What gets added?

[MOSteelers56]

8 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Well, ESPN is owned by Disney, and Disney is terrible, ruining almost everything they touch anymore.

The NFL has become more about money than the sport.  I mean, it always was, but the quality of the game is secondary anymore if a few extra bucks can be made.

I miss the weekend drafts. Draft Saturday's were so fun. 

Yeah, I agree with everything spot on. Draft Saturdays were the best. I also think that the Draft coverage is just more of the same with all media. Try and scare us, they to make us hate someone else, try and get us mad, or try and make us sad. NFL went for sad. I didn't watch the draft coverage, so I don't really know, but everything I read makes it seem like they went way hard on the tearjerker stuff. 

[mwalker]

11 hours ago, Dcash4 said:

Ill just take the other side of this for the fun or argument.

Im really not sure what else you are supposed to do. This year was especially tricky when you have all that air time to fill, but a one man studio, zoom remote commentary, and lose your #2 (or #1, depending on perspective) like a day before the draft in McShay. 

The part I dont like, just as @Chieferific used as an example, is that they added the negatives stories like they were a statistical part of their evaluation for screen grabs. That was bad, talking about the draft picks backgrounds isnt. You have 10+ minutes to fill, with limited back and forth this year in the first round. 

If you had 4 dudes sitting at the same table, you could have back and forth that fills the space -- that's harder to present on TV via remote set up. What more than likely happens is that they knew going in this was going to be a tough space to fill the air entirely, so they did their homework on the personnel side of players so they could have talking points ready to go instead of relying on the video back and forth which can be choppy to get across. 

What's the more proper way to cover the draft? Going over the stats and the fit only take a few minutes. So if you are going to talk away some talking points, you have to fill the space. What gets added?

One thing I'd definitely like to see more of is simply highlights. I'd prefer that comes with some detailed analysis, but you hardly get any coverage 
that shows players. I mean, after the first round, you're lucky to even get a brief play. I think just getting to see more game footage would help.

 

[Chieferific]

47 minutes ago, mwalker said:

One thing I'd definitely like to see more of is simply highlights. I'd prefer that comes with some detailed analysis, but you hardly get any coverage 
that shows players. I mean, after the first round, you're lucky to even get a brief play. I think just getting to see more game footage would help.

 

Yep.  I get that they couldn't have a bunch of people trying to talk at the same time on Zoom but you didn't have to.  You could have Wingo with the initial reaction then you throw it over to some draftnik that highlights the players strengths and weaknesses and how well he fits onto his new team.  I seriously think several of us on here could do that. But no. They opted for one guy. A quick summary then majority backstory.  Not to sound heartless, but when seemingly the majority of players had a Mom, Dad, Brother and/or Sister die it's not as impactful.  

[Dcash4]

I just went through Claypools entire draft profile on NFL.com starting at measurements and it took me 1 minute and 16 seconds to read out loud. Its like anyone who took a Communications/Speech class with a timed assignment. You think you have everything covered and your first run through for a 10 minute speech takes 5 minutes. 10 Minutes is a long time to talk when you have nothing prepared because of the randomness of the draft. Its hard to have video queued up and ready to go for Mel Kiper and Louis Riddick to break down Chase Claypool and how the Steelers will use him when no one knew the Steelers would take Claypool until the commish introduces it. 

11 hours ago, Chieferific said:

Not to sound heartless, but when seemingly the majority of players had a Mom, Dad, Brother and/or Sister die it's not as impactful.  

Honestly the part that killed me was when they showed on the screen "Has 3 kids, one of them named XYZ III"....like, Im sorry, but that's not a badge of honor for a 20 year old college kid. 

[turtle28]

I get what you’re saying but, the Draft has become an “EVENT” now, not just a actual drafting of players and analysis of their play that guys like us care about.

This isn’t new, this has been the case this entire century and maybe even the 5 plus years before that dating back to the early 90s when blowhards like Chris Berman and Mel Kiper blew up on ESPN all bc they talked loud and made ridiculous predictions and had crazy sayings.