The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft has come and gone, and I think ESPN is still trying to catch up on the picks. NFL Network, now part of ESPN, is as well.
What a disastrous night for the “World Wide Leader.” I know I’m accused of dunking on ESPN a lot, and I do, but it’s usually for good reason. I like to think I have a pretty good pulse on sports fans, especially when it comes to major events. If I notice something, you guys usually do, too.
Last night, I noticed how awful the draft coverage was — on both networks. Again, they’re now the same, but still, they’re different. It’s weird. Whatever.
Anyway, the draft time for each team was reduced this season from 10 to 8 minutes, and it was evident last night that ESPN just couldn’t keep up. Both networks were miles behind the actual picks. If you even dared get on social media, you knew who was picked at 10 while No. 7 was still “on the clock” on TV. It was embarrassing.
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And, frankly, a disservice to the viewer. It’s 2026. We HAVE to be better than this:
I could go on and on. It was a true disasterclass from all parties involved. The NFL. ESPN. Again, NFL Network wasn’t quite as bad, but they were still miles behind. And, again, they’re also part of ESPN now, so they fall under that unfortunate umbrella.
I don’t blame the NFL for shortening the time for picks. That made sense. Teams have had months to prepare for this draft. If they still need 10 minutes to decide on a pick, they’re probably in bad shape. Taking two minutes away wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone …
So, naturally, it hurt the viewer. It’s always the viewer who gets hurt.
I understand ESPN has advertising obligations. I get it. All networks do. That’s how they stay afloat. But did they need to jam 14 commercials in between three picks, when the picks are already shorter to begin with? There HAS to be a better way. The NFL and ESPN had months to figure this out, and they fell flat on their face last night.
And by the way, if they don’t fix this — soon — folks will just stop watching. They won’t stop following, of course, because the NFL is king. But they’ll just start going to Twitter to get their info.
It would shorten the draft by an hour for most. No commercials. No players walking down that stupid tunnel so we can watch them put their hat on in front of a mirror. No interviews where they’re all asked the same question.
Just a rapid-fire NFL Draft where the picks are made within minutes of each other. That’s where this is going. After last night, it’s probably where it needs to go.
The one downside? We won’t get great analysis like this from Mike Greenberg:
