The 2025 NFL Draft could be the last one before a major media shakeup.
The NFL Draft has been a staple on ESPN since 1980, but that longstanding tradition may be nearing its end.
As the league prepares to renegotiate the media rights for the draft, there’s a growing expectation that the NFL will
“lean” further into streaming with its next deal. According to Puck’s John Ourand, three companies — ESPN, Fox, and Google — had already submitted bids as of last year. But the league isn’t necessarily limiting itself to just one winner.
It’s possible the NFL splits the rights between a linear partner and a streaming platform, similar to how it handled Thursday Night Football with Amazon in the past. With ESPN already working closely with NFL Media, Disney could be in a position to retain some piece of the package beyond 2025. Still, nothing is guaranteed.
Netflix, which made waves by landing two exclusive Christmas Day games this season, remains a potential player for the draft as well. The company’s appetite for live sports content has grown rapidly, and few events carry the built-in year-round buzz of the NFL Draft.
NBC, meanwhile, hasn’t publicly entered the conversation. But the possibility was hypothetically raised to Chris Simms during an appearance on Sports Business Journal’s The Sports Media Podcast. And in the event his employer throws its hat in the ring, consider Simms very interested.
“Well, I would love that. It’s right up my alley,” Simms said. “I don’t know how well you guys know me, but I mean I’m obsessed with football. I grew up in it. It’s all I do is eat, live, breathe football. I’m not afraid. I think you’ve already probably [know this], seeing as I have a big mouth and I’m not afraid to share unpopular opinions at times, right?”
Simms unveiled his annual NFL Draft hot take last season, pinning Brian Thomas Jr. as his WR1 over Marvin Harrison Jr. He was later proven to be correct, at least one season in, and demanded a mea culpa from Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod. The jury is still out. But it’s who Simms is as an analyst.
“I’m not worried about what everyone else is saying,” he continues. “I’ve been taught and around football my whole life in the NFL. So, I’m pretty confident in what I see and believe, and how I’ve been taught the game through some of the special coaches and evaluators through my time. So, yes, I would love that. And for me, personally, I’m here at NBC Sports right now and have the job I have because of this topic you’re talking about. This is where I made a name for myself.
“I was the one that said that Patrick Mahomes should be the first pick of the draft. Lamar Jackson should be the first pick of the draft. Josh Allen should be the top quarterback in the draft. I’ve gained notoriety and climbed the ladder in the sports media world because of some of my draft evaluations, and I would love to do it. I would be all for it.”
Any NBC-related draft coverage would almost certainly have to include Connor Rogers as well. Rogers, who just signed a new deal with NBC, is the co-host of Pro Football Focus’s NFL Stock Exchange podcast with Trevor Sikkema and is one of the most respected voices in the draft community. We could build a lot of names out of NBC’s coverage, but you’d imagine Maria Taylor, Mike Florio, and perhaps another former player would also be in that conversation.
If NBC does decide to make a play for the draft, it already has the makings of a full-fledged draft crew, with Chris Simms more than ready to be one of the voices that sets it apart.
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.