There’s always discussion of anonymous sources and their potential agendas, but that seems to have particularly intensified in the NFL over the past few weeks. This includes Aaron Rodgers blasting Jay Glazer, Adam Schefter, and Pat McAfee publicly wishing for an end to anonymously sourced reports in the NFL. The latest dustup is between Schefter and Mike Florio of NBC and Pro Football Talk.
On Wednesday, in a written PFT piece titled “Pete Carroll wants another NFL head-coaching job,” Florio accused Schefter of running a “report/strategic leak” on Pete Carroll wanting to get back into the NFL only because “Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter.”
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Carroll wants back in. Which means, frankly, that Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world, in the hopes of generating public opinion. Then, Carroll’s agent will owe Schefter big time.
And that’s how the sausage gets made.
Carroll, per the report/strategic leak, specifically has expressed interest in the Bears’ vacancy. Which obviously means nothing, unless the Bears have interest in Carroll.
…It’s hard to fault Carroll’s agent for trying to use the media to get the word out about Carroll. That’s the agent’s job. It’s not the media’s job, however, to engage in quid pro quo P.R. for coaching candidates.
It’s one thing to express authentic and organic and unsolicited opinions, like we did recently when questioning whether Brian Flores’s lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams will stand in the way of a second head-coaching opportunity. It’s another thing to let your strings be pulled by “sources” (probably only one source, but making it plural always sounds better) who want to get their back scratched — and who will return the favor, possibly many times over.
The specific language in Schefter’s piece suggested different sourcing than that, citing multiple sources and league sources. Here’s some of that:
Seattle Seahawks Super-Bowl winning coach Pete Carroll has expressed interest in the Chicago Bears’ head coaching job and would like to return to the sideline next season, league sources told ESPN.
…In recent weeks, Carroll has begun discussing a return in the NFL and now is interested in doing it. He has not yet spoken with any teams yet, per sources, but he would welcome that chance.
Following the Pro Football Talk X post of Florio’s piece this Wednesday, Schefter shot back in strong terms on his own X account:
Everything you say here is 100 percent wrong. Keep up the guess work and Merry Christmas.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 25, 2024
Florio then responded to that by referencing Schefter’s recent dustup with radio host/basketball coach Doug Gottlieb:
Thank God the college basketball team I coach isn’t in last place in the Horizon League. https://t.co/OiAmNGoVF5
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 25, 2024
It’s somewhat understandable why Schefter is upset here. There’s often speculation about where an insider gets a particular report from, and that’s often shrugged off and not commented on by the insiders. But that’s usually clearly described as speculation. A line like “Which means, frankly, Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world” is a bolder assertion than we usually see.
That line from Florio is set up as a specific claim of fact about Schefter’s sourcing, and it has an actual yes or no answer. Either “Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world,” or he did not. And if there was only one source, and it was Carroll’s agent, that would mean that ESPN and Schefter lied with their citations of “league sources” and “sources said.” So the stakes here are significant.
That doesn’t mean that this is going to be resolved. Schefter probably isn’t going to publicly disprove Florio’s claim, as that would mean burning his sources, which doesn’t seem worth it to win an argument with Florio. But it is notable to see him say “100 percent wrong” here. So, he’s making his own factual claim, which is either true or false.
That claim, of course, also won’t be proven without Schefter revealing his actual sources. So its merits depend on how much you believe and trust Schefter. But it’s interesting to see Schefter going at Florio over this, and doing so himself rather than through calls from his ESPN PR colleagues, and doing so in a public forum. And it’s significant to see him publicly blasting a high-profile critic in such strong terms for at least the second time this month, and maybe that signals a change in his overall response to criticism.
With the actual source of Schefter’s information here unlikely to ever come out, though, this will probably remain just a war of words. But it’s a notable one to see. And it does tie into those larger conversations about sourcing and agendas.
The specific push from the likes of McAfee and Rodgers to diminish or do away with anonymous sourcing is unlikely to actually happen. But there has been more wide skepticism of sourcing and agendas in NFL reporting recently, and less trust of the insiders.
That remains the critical component of all of these conversations, including this one. Using an anonymous source means you’re putting the outlet and reporter’s credibility on the line in place of the source’s, telling readers “Trust us: this is valuable information that we have reason to believe is worth relaying.”
That’s been a key component of journalistic practices for a long time, in sports and beyond. And it’s generally worked out, leading to many stories that never would have broken with only on-the-record sources. But it does require that trust in the reporter and outlet.
There seem to be more and more people, whether players, media members, or fans, who are skeptical of how particular reporters handle their sourcing and reporting. Of course, that doesn’t mean the practice will go away. But it does mean we’re likely to see more debates over reports from particular insiders are actually news worth passing along, or if they’re serving specific people’s agendas in the ways claimed by critics.
[Pro Football Talk, Adam Schefter on X]
