D grades
Steve Mariucci: At one point, I found myself imagining how strong this broadcast could have been if it were just one set with Eisen, Mayock, Shaw and Davis, with some secondary contributions from Jeremiah and the info guy, Ian Rapoport. Mooch is strong on camera and delivers some entertaining takes, but he’s not as knowledgeable as the guys flanking him. Thursday night, he was often just sitting there watching.
Consider how the broadcast concluded: Asked for their final thoughts, Mayock went deep particularly on what the Redskins did. And then Mariucci stepped in and spent the majority of his time thanking the city of Chicago before stating some obvious facts about the quarterbacks, the lack of trades and the Shane Ray selection.
Ian Rapoport: NFLN’s information guys are always so well-connected, but they’re basically ignored on draft night. This has something to do with the fact they’ve been asked not to tip picks, but Rapoport still doesn’t come across as very polished in this role. Oh, and it looks like his report that the Eagles were offering 63 percent of their roster in exchange for Mariota* was way off. In the past, Jeremiah has been there to save Rapoport. Tonight, he was on an island.
F grades
Use of reporters: Jameis Winston wasn’t in the building, which is rare for a top pick. Hasn’t happened this century. So it was disappointing that while NFLN had cameras with Winston in Alabama, along with correspondent Steve Wyche, they spent maybe 30 seconds showing Winston’s live reaction and then basically moved on to the second pick. I feel as though a lot of people would have liked to see more of Winston’s big moment live, especially since he was the ultimate winner of what is basically a sports reality show.
When Wyche finally spoke to him 35 minutes after he was drafted, Winston was a great interview and showed tremendous spirit and emotion. It was a missed opportunity by not getting more of him earlier. NFLN had 16 reporters in other cities, but we didn’t really hear from any of them. It would have been better to have hits with those people over listening to babble from the talking heads.
Deion Sanders: I realize there really isn’t a lot for Sanders to do in that stage interview role, and it is perfect for him as the world’s most famous cheerleader, but he did have a chance to get more out of some of these guys. Danny Shelton was wearing a pretty cool outfit which contained an array of items from his roots, but when he explained that to Sanders, Deion had no idea how to react. Every interview he does sounds the same. I also felt it was fair game — arguably even a responsibility — for Sanders to at least ask Shane Ray a question regarding his extremely recent marijuana citation — but he stayed completely away. Deion’s four “questions” for Ray:
1. “Give me the feeling…”
2. “You’re playing with Peyton Manning!”
3. “Did you get any advice from guys like Michael Sam who you played with a year ago?”
4. “You’re excited?”
N/A
Michael Irvin: I so love that I don’t even have to give Irvin a grade. The man barely spoke! The draft is just better without him and Warren Sapp. Now, Irvin was still part of the telecast, but he was relegated to the outside studio with Chris Rose, Marshall Faulk and Brian Billick.
Marshall Faulk: I watched the entire draft closely on NFLN and honestly forget Faulk was there. Same thing happened to me last year when he was on the primary set with Irvin. Nice to see NFLN is finally beginning to realize they’ve been using too many talking heads. Or maybe this was just a smaller set due to the venue?
Brian Billick: Again, too many talking heads in general. What was the point of that second set? Actually, if you include the spot where Charles Davis and Daniel Jeremiah were chilling, this is really a third set. Completely unnecessary. Television window dressing.
Final Grade: B+
NFL Network’s draft coverage has been consistently very good over the last few years, to the point where they just have to make some minor adjustments to keep moving forward. While there were maybe too many talking heads for Round 1 this year, the addition of Shaw to the main set to compliment Mayock was a stroke of genius.