The NFL draft is one of the biggest television events of the year, sports or non-sports. The funny part about that, of course, is that no game is played. It’s all about anticipation and suspense and the almighty future, which is why it enables both ESPN and NFL Network to get their creative juices flowing in order to carry storylines forward and keep viewers interested in something that until 20 years ago wasn’t considered to be television-friendly.
ESPN usually has more bells, whistles, features and human-interest content, while NFLN brings you the straight goods. Here’s our review of the latter broadcast, which was once again vanilla but got the job done.
A Grades
Rich Eisen – Eisen is simply the antithesis of Chris Berman. It’s frustrating reviewing his performances because there’s never anything to poke fun at. He’s smooth, well-informed and he doesn’t tip picks. I know ESPN doesn’t tip picks nowadays either, but Berman still pushes the envelope. Eisen blows his counterpart out of the water.
Mike Mayock – He’s the best draft analyst in the business. He did an exceptional job breaking down the top three picks in a clear, concise and accurate way three minutes into the broadcast and his analysis was bang-on the rest of the way. It was a little awkward when he attempted to compliment Teddy Bridgewater after the Vikings took the Louisville quarterback 32nd overall, since Mayock had been so critical of the kid in the months leading up to the draft, but that goes with the territory.
I also love the rapport between Eisen and Mayock. Eisen pokes fun at Mayock a lot, which is entertaining to watch. It was easy to do when Mayock became lost in the non-football stuff. He was confused as hell when Eisen alluded to Eric Ebron’s Empire State Building marriage proposal from Thursday afternoon, and he didn’t seem to know what Modern Family was. Eisen LOL’d on both occasions.
The way they handled Johnny Manziel – I talked about how the network has to carry stories forward and make this thing suspenseful, and they did exactly that with the focus on Manziel when the Cowboys were on the clock. It raised the excitement level for the viewers. And then, when Manziel was actually taken an hour later by Cleveland, the packaged and non-packaged reaction was top-notch. They knew that this was going to be the most heavily-reviewed pick of the draft, and that a lot of casual viewers would be tuning in. The old-school footage comparisons to Fran Tarkenton were awesome.
B Grades
Telecast introduction – This was pretty cool. NFLN had a wannabe Morgan Freeman voice a dramatic video that showed some of the draft’s top names, inserting shots from each players’ childhood, which became a theme for the entire night. They juxtaposed those shots with footage of New York City, the NFL Scouting Combine and the players as they are today. These things get recycled and generic over time, even a bit tired, but NFLN did a solid job. It was a nice touch, especially for casual viewers.
Michael Silver with Jeff Fisher in the St. Louis Rams war room – This gets a B and not an A because it was only something that happened five minutes before the Rams were on the clock. NFLN was sort of hyping up Silver’s access all day, but Fisher quite literally (jokingly) kicked Silver out after his live interview at 8:09 p.m. ET.
Fisher was actually really frank with Silver, basically declaring that the Rams were going to stay put and stating that they knew who they wanted to take. He also suggested that the Texans were probably taking Jadeveon Clowney, which was interesting regardless of whether it was mere speculation.
Had Silver been given access throughout the night, this would have been a home run. Still, it enhanced the product.
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