When it comes to his claim that Pat McAfee made up a story about Will Howard at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine, Warren Sapp may have to eat some crow.
During the second episode of ESPN’s Hey Rookie: Welcome to the NFL series, Howard confirmed McAfee’s anecdote, in which the former Ohio State quarterback was spotted throwing passes in the parking lot ahead of his on-field drills in Indianapolis in February. Not only that, but the national champion signal-caller may have revealed the College GameDay star’s source, sharing that New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll spotted his makeshift workout.
“[QB coach] Jake [Heaps] came up to me and he’s like, ‘I got this idea, man. I wanna go out in the street, man, and throw two go balls,” Howard tells his family in the clip. “I was like, ‘OK.’ So we walked out front of the Omni, like right out here. So I throw it. And I see Jake and he’s like starts sprinting and I’m like, ‘oh no.’ And cause I like led him a little bit, and then I hear ‘Boom.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, what was that?’ I don’t know if this is — yeah, sorry if that was your car.
“But then I was like, ‘alright, let me get like through three more. And then all of a sudden, this guy with like a stogie is walking by. I didn’t know who it was. But he walked past Jake. He said something to him, like shook his hand real quick and kept walking. I was like, ‘Who was that? He was like, ‘It’s Brian Daboll, like the Giants head coach.’ I guess he was like, ‘who is that throwing over there?’ Like, ‘who’s that big SOB throwing over there?’ He’s like, ‘uh, it’s Will Howard.’ Jake said that. And I guess Daboll’s like, ‘Yeah, man.’ He loved it.”
Howard’s version of the story, which was filmed at the combine, backs up McAfee’s, right down to the quarterback being referenced as a “big SOB.” The former All-Pro punter’s telling, however, was dismissed by Sapp, who accused the ESPN star of making it up on his podcast on The Pregame Network last month.
“They want to make a big stink about Shedeur [Sanders] not throwing. But what about the running back not running? What are we talking about here?” the Hall of Fame defensive tackle-turned-Colorado defensive line coach said last month. “And then you hear these wild stories about the quarterback from Ohio State out at the parking lot, throwing the ball. Stop it. Just stop it. Stop the fallacy.
“Ain’t nobody out at 11 o’clock throwing no ball in Indianapolis. It’s freezing cold. We’ve all been there in the beginning of February. Ain’t no throwing it outside in no parking lot, Pat McAfee. Stop the lies. C’mon. ‘Well, my sources told me, 11 o’clock at night.‘ C’mon, man, just stop. Just stop. Just stop. I’ve had enough.”
While McAfee’s enthusiastic praise of Will Howard — a projected mid-round pick — has raised enough red flags that the 37-year-old has had to deny being on his payroll, it doesn’t appear there was anything nefarious happening here. Instead, it was merely some good ol’ fashioned journalism, even if it came from a source who’s made mocking the profession a part of his persona.