Generally speaking, when you watch the NFL Draft, you’re either an NFL Network person or an ESPN person. In recent years, ESPN has attempted to boost its draft coverage by adding Mike Greenberg as a host and extending its broadcast to ABC. Since 2019, ABC has broadcasted all three days of the NFL Draft and will continue to do so in 2023. That was almost certainly done as an effort to stave off NFL Network’s rising draft coverage, and yet, the two networks will be hosting one another this week.
Naturally, ESPN and NFL Network have competed for viewership in the past and will continue to do so come next week. That’s why it’s a bit peculiar that the networks have joined together for a 2023 NFL Draft crossover event that will take place this Thursday and Friday, the week directly before the draft.
The two networks have combined their NFL Draft coverage before, but that was done in 2020 and mainly due to extenuating circumstances with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time.
Starting on Thursday, April 20, ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. will join “Good Morning Football,” while NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah will appear on “NFL Live.” Also, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay will make his way over to “Path to the Draft.” On Friday, April 21, former NFL quarterback and current NFL Network analyst, Kurt Warner, will appear on ESPN’s “Get Up,” with ESPN’s Louis Riddick later joining NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access.”
Coming up Thursday!
Mel Kiper Jr. on @gmfb @MoveTheSticks on @NFLLive_esp & @SportsCenter @McShay13 on Path to the Draft@nflnetwork @espn pic.twitter.com/HLcnbDU4yu
— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) April 19, 2023
It’ll be interesting to see how the two networks handle these crossover events. Most of these analysts are colleagues within the industry and are familiar with one another, so surely, bygones will be bygones, as they have a common goal at hand. Perhaps this is being done to drum up ratings, as last year’s draft coverage was lackluster in that department. In any event, it’s being done for fans and those in the NFL Draft community, who now won’t have to choose between pre-draft coverages.
