The NFL sports media landscape is a crowded place. You can get football news, interviews, and analysis in several places. However, if you’re looking for something different that combines insights and great stories, Kevin Clark’s This is Football show/podcast is the place for you. This is Football made its debut on ESPN2 this week. It’s also available on YouTube and other platforms in an ESPN partnership with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.
We recently caught up with Clark, who previously worked at The Ringer and The Wall Street Journal. We spoke to him about football and the evolution of his show.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: How big of a deal is it for your show to be on ESPN2?
Kevin Clark: “It’s a dream. I’ve been on a bunch of different shows since I joined Omaha last year and ESPN. Every show is a different experience. Around the Horn is different from Get Up which is different from NFL Live which is different from First Take. Having your own show requires a different level of involvement. It’s mind-blowing and it’s awe-inspiring. But at the same time, I don’t know if I’ve ever been as tired as I was when I put that episode to bed (Monday) night. It’s an amazing experience and an amazing opportunity. I’m just so happy to be able to do it.”
What does it mean to have a digital show?
“We want to meet the customer, the viewer, the listener where they are. That could be on YouTube. That could be on podcasts. That can be on Twitter clips. If you’re not meeting the customer where they are, you’re going to be irrelevant. There are so many people who only watch Twitter clips, or only listen to (the show) on their commute. You just kind of have to flood the zone. My parents are probably most comfortable watching the show on ESPN2. My niece is probably best equipped to watch it on TikTok. If you can be all things to all people, that’s where you cut through.”
How would you describe your show to someone who hasn’t seen it before?
“We want to be the best hang possible. We want it to be a mixture of the smartest football conversations ever heard and the funniest conversations ever heard. I’ll give you an example. We have Devin McCourty on our show and he’s talking about how to take Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams out of the game. It’s hardcore football stuff. It’s easy to understand but at the same time, he’s telling hilarious stories about Vince Wilfork. He’s telling hilarious stories about Bill Belichick. That’s it. We want to lean on the expertise of these guests. I take a lot of pride in figuring out the right questions. Without these guys who are fun, funny, and smart, the show doesn’t work.”
Unbelievable Belichick story from @devinmccourty on This Is Football. Belichick predicted the exact WIND PATTERN for a Jets game, leading to a pick on a deep ball. Turns out he did it all the time.
This amazing extended interview is part of TV debut of This Football, 2:30 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/oVHu6OBXis
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) September 17, 2024
What’s an interview that stands out to you?
“There are two that stand out. One is Steve Young. The other is Channing Crowder. I’d asked (Young) what the best thing Bill Walsh ever said about football. He told an amazing story about how Bill Walsh taught him that you only win if you look across the huddle and see someone you love. You have to have a love among teammates that is so strong that in the last two minutes of a game, you’re going to see someone you trust entirely. There’s just a bond there and the bond is unbreakable. The bond is what gets you through the last 90 seconds of a playoff game.”
What’s the Crowder story?
“The amount of funny stories this guy has, he’s like a great comedian—being naked with Bill Parcells in the team hot tub, all this stuff. The funniest thing that made me laugh so much was him talking about Nick Saban. He said he tried to get to know Saban on a personal level and connect with him in that way. Crowder goes up to Nick Saban in the bathroom in a urinal. He says ‘How’s Miss Terry?,’ Nick Saban’s wife. Saban says, ‘Oh, she’s good, but she’d be a lot better if you could cover running backs on third down.’
“That, to me, just cuts to the heart of what this show is. You’re learning about Channing Crowder. You’re learning about Nick Saban. You’re learning about what even happens at the urinal at a football facility.”
Has working with Omaha Productions and ESPN opened more doors for you?
“100%. You hear this all the time with the greats, whether that’s Steve Young or Troy Aikman. They say, ‘All the best to Peyton. All the best to Eli.’ There’s an expectation that if you’re telling a funny Peyton Manning story, it’ll get back to Peyton. They want the stories to get back to Peyton, right? Because they’re just giving him guff or bringing up a story from 15 years ago. So, it has opened up a lot of doors. Also, there’s a credibility that the Mannings give everything. Because Omaha does such good work, there’s the expectation that it’s going to be a high-quality show. I thank my lucky stars every day that I get to say I’m Kevin Clark from Omaha Productions.”
What has surprised you so far about this NFL season?
“I thought the Ravens were going to be awesome and I thought there was going to be like a revenge tour element. I’ve been surprised at how the things that are constants for the Ravens— offensive line and Justin Tucker—have just not been there for two games. At some point, it becomes a real problem when you’re dropping games to the Raiders. Teams that have emotional losses in January can go one of two ways. They can either build on it or they can fall apart.”
If you could interview someone and they had to tell the truth, who would it be?
“I would love to get Andy Reid on truth serum because aside from Belichick, he probably knows more ball than anybody living. And like Belichick, he doesn’t reveal a lot in press conferences. One of the things I love about Belichick (now) is he’s being candid and blunt on the Manningcast, on The Breakdown on ESPN+.
“I think Patrick Mahomes and Reid are the best offensive marriage in the history of football. They both solve each other’s problems. Reid needed game management help. Mahomes is better at coming back than anybody in his era. Mahomes tried to put the team on his back in college. Reid built infrastructure where you don’t have to do that. What I would like is genuine insight into that stuff.”
Who’s a player you’d like to have an honest conversation with?
“I’d love to hear from Bryce Young about every little thing that’s going on. And then that, in turn, would encourage the Panthers to probably say exactly what they mean. I’m not talking about leaking XYZ to the local (reporters). I’m talking about going to the press conference saying, ‘Here’s exactly what’s happening. Here’s exactly why I haven’t improved as a quarterback.’ All that stuff. There’s very little of that. Bryce Young will probably give a press conference at some point. He’ll probably take accountability and say, ‘I’ve got to get better. I was a little surprised that I got benched.’ I think more honesty in those situations would go a long way.”
Have you had any blowback from your recent rant against aggregators?
“One of them blocked me: MLFootball. I don’t know why. I guess that guy didn’t take it well. I did not hear from the Dov Kleimans of the world. I don’t know if I was going at those guys specifically, even though certainly they’re guilty of some of the stuff I was talking about. For me, there was just so much bad-faith BS going around in training camp.
“After that rant came out, one of the people who responded to it was Kevin Seifert who works for ESPN covering the Vikings. He said that Brian Flores told reporters he was working on something at camp and as part of it, they had a single cover Justin Jefferson, which you would never do in a normal game. But they’re trying to see something. So they single cover Justin Jefferson, Jefferson torches them, and if you’re at practice that day you probably going ‘Oh my god, the Vikings have a real problem on their hands.’ No, they’re working on something. That’s what training camp is for, and I wish we maybe had a little more understanding of that.”
