NFL insiders have their work cut out for them in this new era.
Increasingly, players themselves are making announcements about everything from signing with a new team to brand endorsements. And sometimes, those players are going public before reporters can get their hands on the information.
That doesn’t bother one prominent NFL insider, who suggests that players are free to do what they want when it comes to revealing news about their own careers, even if it makes reporting a scoop harder. Appearing on Front Office Sports Today, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport commented about the new phenomenon.
“I would prefer I get to break all the news,” Rapoport joked. “Like, if any player wants to, sort of, do it themselves they should just send me a video and I’ll tweet it. That to me is the number one option, always. Just give it to me and I’ll handle it.
“Other than that, like, if a player wants to, sort of, break their own news, as long as they have a handle on it — like, as long as they’re not waiting until two days after they sign where it’ll get out anyway — like, I’m sort of okay with it, you know? Like, I don’t own all the news.
“It’s my job to go find it, but it’s not like I’m entitled to it, you know? So if they want to give it to their buddies at, you know, the Bussin’ podcast, or, you know, [Pat] McAfee broke Saquon [Barkley] news on his extension, like, these guys do things for a living too, these guys are excellent at what they do. If a player wants to go to them to break it, or if they just happen to break it, that’s all good. They earned it, they deserved it. I don’t really have any problem with it.”
It’s unlikely NFL insiders will have their jobs seriously threatened by players themselves. There will always be a market for information laundering, whether that be through agents, executives, or front office personnel. The player’s messaging often won’t provide all the details an insider can, which is why we’ve seen some public tussles between players and reporters recently.
And let’s be honest, someone as plugged-in as Rapoport isn’t going to lose sleep over losing a few scoops because a player wants to announce something themselves.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.