ABC will get in on NFL Draft coverage in 2019. The network will air all three days of the event. It will be the third network with coverage. ESPN and NFL Network will air their traditional draft coverage.
What is interesting about ABC’s plans is that it will not simply be a simulcast of ESPN’s 2019 Draft coverage. While the networks will share coverage on day three, ABC will have it’s own draft team on the first two days, when the NFL Draft is held in primetime. The ABC coverage will be anchored by ESPN’s College Gameday crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and Desmond Howard. The broadcast will be less about stats and X’s and O’s and focus more on the backstories and personalities of the draftees.
Herbstreit added a lot to ESPN’s draft coverage last year. It will be interesting to see if the World Wide Leader replaces him with another broadcaster that can add perspective on the prospects’ college careers. Aside from that loss, ESPN has not yet announced if any changes will be made to its 2018 Day 1 team, which included Mel Kiper Jr and Louis Riddick and was anchored by Trey Wingo. All that has been said by the company is that the ESPN broadcast of the 2019 NFL Draft will be “more football-centric.”
