Trey Wingo misses hosting the NFL Draft for ESPN

Trey Wingo was once synonymous with the NFL Draft. And while he might miss hosting the draft for ESPN, he doesn’t miss the preparation that went into it every year.

Wingo joined this week’s episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast to discuss a variety of topics, including his reporting on the future of LIV Golf and his time covering the NFL Draft for ESPN. And according to Wingo, of everything he did during his nearly quarter-century as a prominent ESPN personality, hosting the NFL Draft may top the list.

“There was no more fun experience I had, outside of maybe calling the U.S. Open and the Open Championship for ESPN, than doing the draft,” Wingo admitted. “It is so much fun to do, now it’s the hardest thing in the world to prepare for. Every year, there are about 700-800 potential draftees and there’s about 250-260 picks, and you have to go all in on the trenches.

“A lot of people could handle Day 1 of the draft. Day 2 or 3 is where your team is built, and those are the days that I enjoyed more than anything. I do miss doing it, I’m not sure I miss preparing for it anymore the way I had to, but it was a rollercoaster ride, and none of us knew what was gonna happen, and I think that’s what made it the most fun.”

Wingo had a cast of analysts to lean on if he didn’t know who a draftee was, but he took satisfaction out of being prepared for every possible selection, crediting ESPN’s research team for their help. For Wingo, being able to hear “Ali Marpet” called during the 2015 NFL Draft and know he was the first selection from Hobart College since the 1930s made him feel like all of their work paid off.

“That was the thing I took the most pride in,” Wingo said of the preparation. “That kid, ‘I know where he’s from, I know what he’s about, what a moment for him and his school to get drafted.’ Those were really the fun things for me. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it when it paid off in that way.”

Wingo spent 20 years working on the NFL Draft for ESPN. His coverage began by hosting a very raw broadcast of the NFL Draft on a digital show for ESPN.com in the year 2000, before moving to ESPN Radio and eventually TV. Wingo was there when the NFL moved the draft from Radio City to Chicago, and from Chicago to the massive outdoor event it is today. But if ESPN called him this week and said they need an emergency replacement for Mike Greenberg, Wingo wouldn’t be able to do it without those months of preparation.

“I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to do it because I wouldn’t want to fake it,” Wingo said. “Every year I did the draft, I took a few days off after the Super Bowl, and the research packets would start coming in…I could not say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll go in and do that.’ I don’t have that depth of knowledge this year because I haven’t been doing it full-time since the middle of February. It would be disingenuous.”

Listen to the full episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast featuring Trey Wingo by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.