A Pro Football and Sports Network logo. A Pro Football and Sports Network logo. (PFSN.)
NFLOnline OutletsBy Andrew Bucholtz on

The world of breaking sports news can be complicated, particularly when it comes to anonymous sources. Each reporter and outlet has its own set of standards for what it’s willing to relay without a named source, which transfers the report’s credibility to the reporter or outlet.

When there’s a disconnect between a reporter’s sourcing practices and the standards of the outlet they work for, it can create a mess. That’s especially problematic when aggregators pick up a story from a reporter’s social media post that the outlet hasn’t officially published or endorsed.

That happened with Brett Hoffman and Pro Football and Sports Network this past weekend.

This all started on February 19 when Hoffman posted to X that the New York Jets had contacted the Tennessee Titans to discuss trading for the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, which the Titans hold. Hoffman noted that the pick would be used on Miami quarterback Cam Ward if obtained, and he posted details of the package the Jets were offering.

This tweet got some attention even then, as Hoffman’s bio mentioned contributing to Pro Football and Sports Network (amongst other sites, including Sleeper NFL). At that point, he had only written one piece at that company, a mock draft in December, but he did have a freelance contributor contract with them, setting rates and policies for potential future work if they called on him.

That led to some aggregators, including The Sporting News and Athlon Sports, citing this as a PFSN report. The citations led PFSN executives to discuss this with Hoffman, and that discussion ended with the company parting ways with him via email.

Hoffman posted that agreement-termination email to X this past Sunday after ESPN’s Dan Graziano included a note on a similar possible Jets’ trade with the Titans in a Combine Notes piece at ESPN.com that day. On the Jets, Graziano wrote, “They could use the No. 3 pick on either Miami’s Cam Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders if still on the board, or they could move up to No. 1 to take one of them. A lot of folks believe the Titans are interested in trading out of the top pick, and the Giants and Jets are among the teams believed to be interested in moving up.”

That prompted Hoffman to bring up his earlier post along those lines, reference PFSN’s termination of his contract, and provide that exit email. In that post, he also claimed the issue was that “I reported it too early, far before ESPN talking heads caught wind.”

PFSN CEO Matt Cannata then publicly responded to Hoffman’s post and included a screenshot of what Hoffman told PFSN execs when he was asked for details on his sourcing:

Here’s the full text of that post, including what the embed cuts off.

Brett, first, congratulations on your scoop — you certainly deserve to be praised for it. We were once in your shoes when no one believed us when we broke news in our early years as a company.

I’m sorry you took this approach to validating what you originally tweeted. The anger should be directed at everyone who called you a fraud in your initial tweet, not a media company with strict standards around inside information.

A “family friend works for the Jets. No idea if this will happen” was not good enough for us to attach our name to. That is not good enough for any credible media outlet, and anyone who has been involved with reporting inside information will tell you that.

If you had a second source — and those sources were ones we could have vetted and confirmed, we would have 100% stood by your side and amplified what you reported.

But in the media industry, there is a right way for this kind of process, and your process did not live up to our standards, which we hold every person in our company to.

When multiple outlets started to run with your tweet and attribute the rumor being reported by PFSN, we could not do that from a journalistic ethics point of view as it relates to inside information and breaking news.

Awful Announcing has since spoken to both Cannata and Hoffman. Hoffman said he isn’t bothered by the end of his work relationship with PFSN and feels vindicated by the support he’s received on social media after this.

“You can’t really go back and undo things, obviously. And I think that the public opinion is pretty clear on who is in the right and who is in the wrong, based on every person, 95% of the comments on the post and the related posts.”

Hoffman said he sees Graziano’s note as confirming his reporting.

“It’s been reported by ESPN that there’s been discussions between the two teams for the number-one pick. I reported that on February 19th.”

He told AA that he was bothered initially when he first saw that, and there was no indication that he’d previously reported on these discussions.

“The initial feeling when I saw the reporting on ESPN was frustration. I felt as though I had that story well before those folks did.”

Hoffman said he thinks PFSN “botched” an opportunity by not amplifying or standing by his report.

“Corporate greed led to this. I gave PFSN the biggest breaking news in their company history, and they couldn’t believe it because they don’t believe you unless you have ESPN attached to your name, sadly,” he said. “They had a chance to put their struggling outlet on the map, and they completely botched it.”

As for Cannata, he told AA the problem for PFSN came with other outlets crediting their site for Hoffman’s report.

“Brett was not an employee of ours but a freelance writer contracted by PFSN to write mock drafts, which he completed in December. At some point, he listed himself as a contributor to PFSN in his X profile. When he posted the rumor, other media outlets attributed it to us.

Cannata said Hoffman’s source usage didn’t meet PFSN’s standards.

“The issue was not that he reported the rumor, but rather the validity of his source, which did not align with our editorial ethics and standards. Because of that, we were unable to stand by the report. As a result, we made the decision to terminate our working relationship with Brett.”

Hoffman said he appreciates the social media support he’s received following PFSN’s termination of that relationship.

“I’m super appreciative of the many people who commented on my post in my defense, and my DMs are flooded with messages of love and support. A few are from former PFSN employees who had poor experiences working with them in the past.”

He said he plans to keep working in the NFL and told AA he’s received interest from other outlets.

“I’m not too concerned about the next steps. I’ve received some interest from a couple of different outlets already, and we’ll see where that goes from there.”

While this particular issue has come to a close, we’ll likely see similar ones down the road. Many stories have been broken by unusual sources, but there’s also been pushback on some reports from reporters and outlets questioning their credibility. Sometimes, reports aren’t going to meet the standards of a larger organization a person or outlet is affiliated with, which can lead to problems.

This situation shows one case of a reporter and an outlet having different reporting standards and the issues that can be caused.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz