NFLBy Sam Neumann on

If you were enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend or perhaps watching the series finale of HBO’s Succession, you may have missed some of the drama that unfolded in sports media. And Pro Football Talk and NFL Media were right in the center of it.

On Saturday night, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract with the Las Vegas Raiders had to be “dramatically reworked” because the veteran quarterback reportedly failed his physical with his new team. So, the reworked contract includes a waiver, which according to Florio, had to be included, otherwise Garoppolo would not have passed the team’s physical.

“Because of a preexisting medal and middle cuneiform and a fracture of the base of the second metatarsal in the Player’s left foot and that the Club would not enter into an NFL Player Contract with Player,” the waiver read.

That line is important. More on that to follow.

This is a pretty big deal. So, one would expect that fellow NFL reporters who either confirmed or aggregated the news would credit Florio, right?

Well, not quite. Around the NFL, which is the league’s digital media hub, credited its own insider, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, for breaking the news. The article links the word “reported” to Rapoport’s tweet, which shows the clause on the adjusted contract for Garoppolo. The problem? His tweet is quoting Pro Football Talk’s tweet.

And as one would expect, Florio, who runs the Pro Football Talk account, was none too pleased.

A Twitter user brought it to Florio’s attention that Rapoport was being credited for breaking the news, and not himself. Remember, NFL Network is owned by the National Football League. So, Florio took issue with not being properly accredited.

“I try not to let this crap bother me anymore, because it will never stop happening. But we dug up the only real news that anyone has reported this weekend — a significant story all parties involved had hidden for weeks — and NFL.com pretends their guy broke it.

Another Twitter user, who happens to be an ankle surgeon (!) pointed out to Florio that he made a mistake in his article, referring to the broken bone in Gaaroppolo’s foot as the “medal” cuneiform, rather than “medial.” And the NFL.com article has that word copied from Florio’s story, despite the contract clearly stating that it’s “medial.”

Woof.

 

And if you needed even more drama, Brad Speilberger of Pro Football Focus—and several others in the replies—informed Florio that he wasn’t the first to break the story.

Jason Fitzgerald, the creator of Over The Cap, stated that “this isn’t new” in reference to the information Florio was presenting. In fact, he clipped an audio clip from his podcast back in March, which has him discussing why there was a hold-up in Garoppolo’s introductory press conference and why the Raiders had to redo his contract. Although Fitzgerald didn’t have the contract as Florio did, he did say in a podcast, “I was told there was some changes with some injury languages in his deal.”

There are a lot of layers to peel back here. And we’re likely still not done. Stay tuned to see if there are any more responses during Monday’s holiday and the subsequent days to follow.

[Pro Football Talk, NFL Media]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann