Comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo has been doing impressions of prominent NFL personalities for years. From his time on Fox and ESPN, he’s done everyone from John Madden to Mel Kiper Jr and beyond. And in the lead up to this year’s NFL Draft, Caliendo had some fun with his impressions at the expense of Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim, who just happened to have the #1 overall pick in the draft.
Caliendo appeared on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday and talked about his friendship with Keim and how he sent Keim voice messages pretending to be Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden offering fake trade proposals. Furthermore, he also called Keim as Adam Schefter and Jay Glazer to have some fun with him before the draft. Keim also called into the show to talk with Caliendo about the calls and the audience got to hear some of his famous impressions as well.
As funny as this is, and as good as Caliendo’s impressions are, couldn’t the Cardinals have used this to their advantage? Maybe Keim could have slipped him a phone number or two of rival NFL GMs around the league and Caliendo could call as Schefter or Glazer and gain some intel from other teams. Or, if he was really up for a challenge, Caliendo could have tried to actually pull off a fake trade or two on behalf of the Oakland Raiders. The draft would have been a lot more interesting if the Raiders would have made seven trades up to select quarterbacks that Gruden loved, wouldn’t it?
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