You may have an easier time getting ahold of the Pope than Mel Kiper Jr.
As he embarks on yet another NFL Draft, the longtime ESPN NFL Draft analyst will do so without a cellphone. Sure, Kiper has a multitude of landlines, but if his former teammate Todd McShay ever wants to reach him, he has to text Kiper’s wife, Kim, first.
This was brought up to McShay during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take, in which Dan Katz (“Barstool Big Cat”) wondered aloud if the rumors that Kiper has five landlines were true.
Mel Kiper Jr. still has no cellphone but has 4 different landlines in his house @PardonMyTake pic.twitter.com/hEBvmVja7L
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 22, 2024
“Yes, let’s pull this up; you ready? I’ve got one, two, three, four different numbers for Mel,” said McShay. “And if I want to get through to Mel — look all these texts — it’s to Kim…And Kim writes back, ‘Hey, Todd, how are you? Yeah, I’ll ask him. I’m sure he’ll get back to you tonight.’ So, I’ve got to work through (this) and I always bust him on that. And the problem is, you’ll call the house and Kim will pick up and be like, ‘Hey!’ and I’ll talk to Kim for like 10 minutes before you can get to Mel.
“And then Mel will pick up from a different landline, right? It’s not like a cell phone at home. It’s like back in the 80s when you hear a phone, ‘Hey, Todd, how are you? What’s going on?’ It’s definitely a throwback to my childhood… I just picture Kiper pacing with the cord getting stuck around him.”
McShay will not do anything related to the NFL Draft this year as he awaits his next career move. But it sure seems like he and Kiper keep in touch. While his NFL Draft coverage is undoubtedly missed at ESPN, we’re not sure that McShay misses having to track down Kiper when he has a question about a particular prospect.
[Barstool Sports on X]
