An ongoing debate in football has been about how to prepare players for life after hanging up their cleats, and a lot of that’s about factors beyond just physical health. It’s crucial that players are able to adapt to a post-career lifestyle in terms of money, jobs and purpose; while some have gone on to great off-field success, there are also plenty of powerful stories of those who have failed. Cognizant of the implications here, both the NFL and the NFLPA have been taking substantial steps of late to try and prepare football players for what comes next. One element in that plan is the league’s Broadcast Boot Camp, an intensive four-day seminar for current and retired players interested in broadcast careers where they get to learn from current on-air personalities (such as CBS’ James Brown, Fox’s Curt Menafee and ESPN’s Ron Jaworski), producers and executives, and work on various elements of the profession along the way. SB Nation‘s Dan Rubenstein went behind the scenes at Broadcast Boot Camp this week, and he came away with some fascinating information on what goes on there:
As Rubenstein’s video shows, making it in broadcasting isn’t an easy path for these players. There’s obviously a lot of interest, but just making it to this boot camp is difficult enough; 19 of the most promising players were picked out of nearly 100 applicants. Once they get in, there’s lots to learn, too. Former Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Kris Jenkins’ comment to Rubenstein that “The locker room is just so Neanderthalish” was particularly notable; that’s not so much a slam on football or football players’ intelligence, but rather recognition that in the NFL, all that matters is what you do on the field, not how you talk. In the broadcast booth, it’s the exact inverse; plenty of great players have utterly failed as broadcasters, while many who didn’t have the most memorable playing careers have gone on to prominence.
There are plenty of obstacles along this path for players. Former Patriots’ receiver Troy Brown told Rubenstein that a particular challenge for him was criticizing former teammates, saying “It was just so difficult to do that.” That’s understandable; these guys have been with the same teams for a lot of years in many cases, and the locker-room environment tends to be focused on uniting those within it against those without. That loyalty can hurt as a broadcaster, though, especially in the NFL; many are a little more accepting of homerism in baseball, the NHL or the NBA, particularly on local broadcasts, but national (or at least regional) broadcasts are more standard in football, and bias towards one team can quickly drag down a career. No one’s expecting the Rodney Harrisons and Tony Dungys of the world to completely abandon their past loyalties, but those guys have found success because they will still criticize their former organizations and their former teammates when it’s warranted. Learning how to do that’s a crucial skill for these players to acquire, but not an easy one.
The broadcasting path can be difficult, but it can also be a rewarding one, and this camp has found a lot of success in getting players onto that path. Over its six-year history, 44 of the 105 players who have taken part in this boot camp have gone on to land broadcasting jobs, impressive considering the limited number of those out there. Four players from this year’s camp have already landed opportunities, too; current players Nate Burleson (receiver, Detroit) and Joel Dreessen (tight end, Denver) will serve as guest hosts on Sirius XM this season, while former players Brown and Mark Tauscher (Green Bay) will get to spend a regular-season Sunday game as an analyst for one of the league’s TV partners in Britain. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more players from this class land jobs down the road, either, and that’s a good thing; these kinds of initiatives could play crucial roles in preparing players to succeed after their football careers end, and that’s a terrific outcome.
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