With a new NFL season just around the corner, Barrett Sports Media decided to take on a big project. We reached out to hosts, PDs, and reporters in every NFL city in the country. The question we wanted answered was simple: Who on your team’s roster has the brightest future in the sports media?
We spent the better part of a month sending emails and texts asking folks to participate. Some gave us an answer right away. Some required a little poking and prodding. Some didn’t respond at all. What are you going to do, right? It’s a busy time of year for all of us in sports radio.
We will reveal a new batch of answers everyday from now until Friday. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.
Here’s Part 2:
BALTIMORE RAVENS
Jerry Coleman – 105.7 the Fan
Well, Terrell Suggs is going to be a guy that will aim to be in the media. He has participated on a few of the studio shows in the past. He continues to appear on shows like Ballers. I don’t think he has a lot to offer though, as someone that has interviewed him for the last 15 years. He’s mostly full of platitudes and cliches.
Justin Tucker is the kicker. Do they qualify for this? He would be a terrific candidate. Besides being a terrific kicker and singer, he is very well spoken. He may be really great. I just wonder how much a kicker can add to a broadcast in a game. How much are they really in those meetings and able to add perspective to situations involving quarterbacks, linebackers, or receivers?
CHICAGO BEARS
Laurence Holmes – 670 the Score
When he’s done playing football, Bears Guard #75, Kyle Long, will make one of the easiest transitions from playing to broadcasting that we’ve seen in a while. From the time that he was a rookie, Long has shown incredible personality in dealing with the media. He’s honest, loquacious, and charismatic. In some respects, Long has already been doing a form of broadcasting. He has thousands of followers already, on the gaming platform Twitch, where he does live videos while playing games. Honestly, that association will give him a leg up in growing the younger demo for a potential employer. He has credibility in a growing and desirable audience share.
In between the time of the Lovie Smith Bears and the team drafting Mitch Trubisky, Long has been the face of the franchise. That’s a weird thing to say about a Guard, but it’s true. On top of everything else, the Long family has shown that their personal charisma translates to the camera. It’s not a far leap to say that Kyle’s brother, Chris could run for political office someday and their dad, Howie is pretty much the standard for a national analyst. Kyle has many interests, but if he chooses to work in television or radio, he will have a ton of options, both locally and nationally.
HOUSTON TEXANS
Sean Pendergast – Sports Radio 610
If the question were “Which Houston Texan employee has the brightest future in media?”, my answer would be head coach Bill O’Brien, hands down, whenever that day may come. However, if we are keeping it focused strictly on players, my choice would be one of the newest Houston Texans, safety Tyrann Mathieu. In his short time with the team, the “Honey Badger” has impressed me with his thoughtful, intelligent answers to questions about both his background and the game itself.
When I am looking for content from former football players, I generally want the player to have good energy, a solid delivery, and most importantly, teach me something I don’t know. Mathieu’s energy is infectious, but more importantly, he has one of the highest football IQ’s in the league. Mathieu plays a position where the knowledge necessary to perform at a high level is the defensive equivalent of the quarterback’s necessary knowledge on the offensive side of the football. I feel like Mathieu would be incredibly versatile as a radio or TV personality, with the ability to convey an entertaining story in one segment, and then one segment later, give an X’s and O’s “chalk talk”.
Above all else, Mathieu has massive respect from his peers, fans, and media alike, so I think people would be preconditioned to like and enjoy him. Earning the respect of a TV or radio audience would have fewer barriers for Mathieu.
NEW YORK GIANTS
Chris Carlin – WFAN
Landon Collins has got a future in the media, if he wants it. The network executives are always looking for the same thing: someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth. Though he’s been in the NFL a short time, Collins hasn’t been afraid to ruffle some feathers.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
John Mamola – 620 WDAE
When posed the question to identify a single individual player on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that has the chops to one day have a future in sports media, you need to look at the results of the past. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber (now a top analyst for FOX Sports) inherits the intelligence of reading routes and schemes while delivering his analysis as smooth as he was when he stepped in front of wide receivers for one of his 47 career interceptions. You look at the leadership of former Buccaneers safety John Lynch, straight to the point with no filter attached which led him to being one of the most respected analysts in football paving his path in the front office for San Francisco.
Other notable former Tampa Bay Buccaneers have also graced the sports media landscape each with their own unique attributes that they carried with them from the field of play and into the media landscape. Keyshawn Johnson and Anthony McFarland with ESPN, Tony Dungy and Chris Simms at NBC Sports, and minus his off the screen transgressions, you can’t deny the energy and passion for the game of football Warren Sapp displayed when he was on the NFL Network.
In an age of on demand and short attention spans, you need to identify someone who can get right to the point of what they’re trying to say. Someone who identifies with the trends in social media and respects the benefits of it on all platforms, but also recognizes the pitfalls it could also lead to. You need someone with energy, passion for the sport, and someone who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. A broadcaster that makes you think, points out the hidden, and is always trying to get better at whatever position they may play on the field (or in sports media). For me without question, that’s Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans.
Evans is entering his fifth season in Tampa Bay and already ranks among the great wide outs in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history with 32 touchdowns (2nd in franchise history) and over 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons in Tampa Bay. Off the field he’s a celebrated family man, husband and father.
But what would make Evans a great member of the sports media once his long career is over? His discipline to continue working at his craft, passion for the game of football and knowledge of the game are apparent each and every day in practice and during games. He is not afraid to express his views (see his comment on Twitter RT’ing Donald Trump with a dig at his USFL ownership), plus has great energy and is always direct with the media getting right to his point. With time, practice and the right coaching Evans could be the next in a line of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers that you see on the television screen every Sunday, or on the radio every afternoon on your drive home.
