There’s no questioning that Adam Schefter is one of the top insiders in all of sports.
Just how valuable the ESPN star’s scoops are, however, depends on who you ask.
Despite Schefter unquestionably being one sports’ preeminent news-breakers, some have questioned the importance of his role in the entire process. To his critics, who cares if the Michigan alum is the first to tell us who the New York Jets are hiring as their new general manager when the team is just going to announce the news itself a short time later?
Appearing on The Main Event with Andrew Marchand, Schefter was asked about such criticism. And while he conceded that some of the news he breaks could be considered trivial, he passionately pointed to his larger body of work.
“There are many things that are not five minutes before [news is announced]. There are some that are. Absolutely. But there are a lot of things that aren’t, and there are a lot of big context things that aren’t,” Schefter said. “They’re seeing the big picture and addressing it. Again, here’s what I know: You say we’re going five minutes — whatever. It’s a huge body of work. There are times when it is five minutes. Great. There are plenty of times when it’s not.”
Schefter proceeded to point to the drama surrounding former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s head coaching candidacy earlier this month. While others were projecting Johnson to land in Las Vegas with the Raiders, the ESPN insider publicly remained steadfast in his reporting that the Chicago Bears were still in the hunt.
Lo and behold, Johnson is now the Bears’ head coach.
“That was going on for two weeks while other people proclaimed ‘five minutes,'” a clearly fired up Schefter said. “There’s your two weeks notice on Ben Johnson. And by the way, that’s what I’m talking about. There are certain things that we could put out that a team is ruling out a player and five minutes later, the injury comes. Yes, he’s ruled out. OK. That’s a part of the job. There’s a lot of elements to the job, Andrew. A lot.”
Say what you will about Schefter — and we’ve written plenty — but it’s understandable that he’d take such offense to the notion that he’s merely pre-releasing press releases. To his point, his job at ESPN calls for him to fill several different roles. Some of them require him to break news just before it’s made public, while much of them require a deeper connection and understanding of the league he’s covered for more than three decades.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.