The Miami Dolphins traded up from the No. 30 overall pick to No. 27 in a deal with the San Francisco 49ers during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night. With that 27th overall pick, the Dolphins selected San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson.
ESPN host Mike Greenberg had no idea that the Dolphins were the team making the pick, even while the Miami logo was shown on the broadcast’s “the pick is in” graphic.
“And the commissioner making his way to the podium here for the 49ers’ selection at 27,” Greenberg said on ESPN.
Even after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the pick, Greenberg still had it wrong.
“With the 27th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins select Chris Johnson, defensive back, San Diego State,” Goodell said at the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
“Alright, so the California kid stays in California,” Greenberg said after the pick was announced, and as ESPN showed Johnson celebrating with a Dolphins hat on. “Grew up in Long Beach, then a two-year starter at San Diego State, where he was the Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.”
The Miami Dolphins definitely don’t play in California.
Live television is very, very hard, and an event like the NFL Draft can be pure chaos for a broadcast production. But for Greenberg to get that wrong twice, and for nobody at ESPN to relay to him the correct answer after the first miss, is a rough gaffe for the network during its biggest television event of the NFL offseason.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.