The NFL Draft is quickly approaching, and as ESPN’s host for the event, Mike Greenberg has a lot of studying to do.
During an appearance on Waddle & Silvy Wednesday, Greenberg shared that ESPN used to do an entire dress rehearsal of the first round of the NFL Draft, which included graphics, analysts, and a fake commissioner announcing selections.
He added that after the COVID-19 pandemic, a five-hour Zoom meeting has since been scheduled. However, he claimed it only lasted about two hours and 45 minutes.
When pressed by the hosts on who the Chicago Bears selected in their Zoom rehearsal for the draft, Greenberg shared that the franchise selected Darnell Wright, an offensive lineman from Tennessee. He then rattled off the accolades that Wright compiled during his career with the Volunteers, including his recruiting ranking and his hometown.
Waddle asked if Greenberg if he could do that for every player in the draft. The ESPN host then said that he’s lucky, because he only has the first two days of the network’s coverage.
“I only do the first three rounds. By the time we get there, two weeks from tomorrow, I will have 130 players done,” said Greenberg. “In my two years doing the event, I think the first year there were three of them I didn’t have. The second year — Bill Belichick keeps taking players nobody saw coming — so I think there were like five of them. So if at any point, you hear the commissioner say a name and all you hear me say is ‘Mel?’, you’ll know that’s a guy I didn’t do.”
