The biggest story of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis wasn’t a record-breaking 40-yard dash.
It was Jordan Schultz running into Ian Rapoport at a Starbucks in a hotel lobby. And it all seemed to stem from their conflicting reporting on the Las Vegas Raiders’ reported pursuit of Matthew Stafford.
Schultz recently addressed the situation but avoided getting into specifics. However, he did acknowledge the now-infamous photo of their exchange, obtained by Awful Announcing, which captured him smiling while speaking to the NFL Network reporter, with the unmistakable Starbucks logo looming in the background.
Rapoport eventually got his chance to tell his side of the story on the Awful Announcing Podcast.
“It was all ridiculous. Again, I’m not blind to the world,” Rapoport told host Brandon Contes. “I would say, looking back, it was a little amusing. I was part of it, I guess? I really, honestly, was just standing there. But I was part of it, I guess? It was sort of amusing, and people got a real kick out of it. I mean, doing something like that in front of 50 reporters, I’ve never seen news travel faster.
“I mean, it was ridiculous. Freaking [Mike] Florio had the whole thing, including what [Schultz] said to me, two hours later — ridiculous. Now, as a professional gossip, I respect it. It was all amusing… The crazy thing, for me, is like, I didn’t do anything. I literally just stood there while somebody screamed in my face. That has not happened very often. Like, we all do this. We all work very hard, but no one has ever taken it personal like that. People are like, ‘Did you just get into a fight with a Fox freelancer?’ And I’m like, ‘I didn’t get into a fight with anyone. I stood there while someone screamed in my face, saying things that I’ve never said or even heard of.”
That, of course, would be the infamous Uber stock accusation.
There was a reported rumor that Rapoport had accused Schultz of offering sources Uber stock — yes, Uber stock — in exchange for scoops.
“I didn’t know people gave that to players,” Rapoport said. “I had no idea. It was weird. I don’t know. I had nothing to do with it. I stood there while someone yelled at me, turned around, and left. It did get a lot of publicity, though. It did get a lot of publicity. But then it’s like, ‘Go back to work,’ you know?”
According to Rapoport, despite Schultz being all smiles in the photo, it was not a friendly confrontation.
The son of the former Starbucks CEO came in hot at a Starbucks, of all places.
“I don’t hardly know him. We’ve interacted a little bit,” said Rapoport. “He DM’d me a ton when he was, I guess, sort of just getting started or whatever. We haven’t had a lot of interaction. I would not say it was very friendly… We all compete very hard, but the thought of someone real like [Adam] Schefter yelling, I can’t even imagine. We all sort of do this. It’s our living, for those of us who do it for a living. It’s our job. We work hard, but it’s not personal. That was the strange thing for me.”
The bottom line is that everything Florio wrote in his exclusive for Pro Football Talk was true.
“He said something about him giving Uber or Starbucks stock to players or something like that,” Rapoport recalled. “Which I was like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ It was all pretty fast. Literally, I stood there. I was like, ‘What?’ And then I was like — because he was right in my (face) — ‘Could you back up, please?’ And then, screamed some more, said the rest of what Florio wrote, and then I left.”
There wasn’t much more to it.
Listen to the full episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast featuring Ian Rapoport beginning Friday, March 21. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
