ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network is just a few weeks away from becoming official. But in what appears to be a good sign for the cable channel, ESPN will allow NFL Network to once again broadcast its own version of the NFL Draft, sources tell Front Office Sports.
ESPN declined to comment.
ESPN and NFL Network have offered dueling TV versions of the NFL Draft since 2006. Over the decades, they competed for guests, TV ratings, and attention. After ESPN’s acquisition of NFL Network was approved earlier this year, there was “growing concern” that ESPN would kill off that competition by cancelling NFL Network’s individual draft coverage from Pittsburgh from April 23-25, say sources.
But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Instead, ESPN and parent Walt Disney Co. plan to “flood the zone,” say sources, by maintaining four different presentations of the NFL’s marquee offseason event. The network’s plans include:
- On ESPN, Mike Greenberg is poised to lead the network’s coverage for the sixth straight year. ESPN will provide in-depth coverage of all seven rounds from Thursday to Saturday. Expect to see familiar faces such as draftnik Mel Kiper Jr., insider Adam Schefter, reporter Molly McGrath, and analysts such as Booger McFarland and Louis Riddick. Look for ESPN talents to occasionally “cross over” to NFL Networks coverage and vice versa, says one source.
- On NFL Network, host Rich Eisen is expected to lead the network’s coverage for the 20th consecutive year. Eisen is typically joined by analysts Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, and Joel Klatt, and insider Ian Rapoport. Over the years, many hardcore football fans have appreciated the network’s more gritty X’s & O’s coverage. Jeremiah, in particular, is viewed as a rising star.
- On ABC, Rece Davis is again expected to host the Disney broadcast network’s more College GameDay-centric version of the draft, alongside Kirk Herbstreit, Nick Saban, Desmond Howard, and Laura Rutledge. ABC typically covers Rounds 1-3 on Thursday and Friday before simulcasting ESPN’s coverage of Rounds 4-7 on Saturday.
- Pat McAfee & co. are also expected to be back with The Pat McAfee Show Draft Spectacular. It will be the third straight year of McAfee offering his own on-location coverage of the NFL’s premier offseason event. It will be a homecoming for McAfee, who was born and raised just outside of Pittsburgh. Last year, McAfee’s Draft show was available across YouTube, TikTok, the ESPN App, and streaming on ESPN+.
The survival of NFL Network’s own draft telecast is good news for employees hoping their new corporate overlord, ESPN, will invest in the channel rather than let it wither. The hope among employees is that ESPN and NFL Network will form a one-two punch on pro football coverage, similar to ESPN and SEC Network on college football.
As previously reported by FOS, all of NFL Network’s on-air talents will officially become ESPN/Disney employees on April 1, 2026. The good news is that ESPN will honor all of their contracts for the duration of the deals. The bad news? At the end of their contracts, ESPN will decide whether to keep them or simply let their deals expire. As usual with mergers, there are bound to be redundancies.
In the short term, all eyes are on Rapoport, whose contract expires in May. The potentially powerful combination of Schefter and “Rap Sheet” would recreate the dynamic of Schefter’s previous collaboration with the late, great Chris Mortensen. But if ESPN does want to keep NFL Network as a powerful alternative, it makes more sense to keep Rapoport where he is, say sources.
This will be the 91st version of the NFL Draft. Ever since leaving its longtime home at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in 2015, the event has become a live, three-day spectacle that’s part traveling circus and part reality TV show. Over the past decade, the draft has drawn massive crowds in cities such as Detroit, Nashville, Las Vegas, and Chicago. Last year’s coverage from Green Bay was the second-most-watched ever, drawing an average audience of 7.5 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, NFL Network, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and digital platforms.
As a fledgling cable startup, ESPN discovered the NFL Draft as a TV property back in 1980. That’s why there’s always been some bad blood about NFL Network butting into the action over the last two decades. Even if the dueling cable networks would occasionally lend each other on-air talent, they still went at it tooth and nail.
“The bottom line is, ESPN discovered the NFL Draft as a TV property in 1980. But for 20 years, NFL Network has been cannibalizing its ratings,” says another source.
Now the two networks are playing for the same team.
