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It’s been quite the run recently for Jordan Schultz professionally. The NFL Insider was recently hired by FOX Sports, and he has a new football podcast. Well, mostly a football podcast. And not exactly a podcast, more of a show on social media.
The show is aptly named, Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football? With Jordan Schultz, because that’s the first thing people generally think when they hear about it. Draymond Green is known as a star player in the NBA and a burgeoning sportscaster who already has a popular podcast of his own.
Jordan Schultz was known growing up as the son of Starbucks CEO and Seattle SuperSonics owner Howard Schultz. Then he was known as a basketball player through college, then he was a hard-working up and coming sports journalist and then he wasn’t exactly sure what he was. Now, he is known as an NFL Insider.
He has former ESPN talent Max Kellerman to thank for that.
As Schultz explained, “I was at ESPN doing a lot of college basketball coverage for them as well as on their sports betting show on ESPN2, but I didn’t really have a defined role and at one point I was able to get on First Take with Max Kellerman, who became a really good friend and he said, ‘You know, you’re really good, but the producers don’t really know what you are. They don’t know how to identify you. Are you an NBA insider? Are you an analyst? You’re also talking football and college basketball. You’re doing too many things.’ And he said, and I’ll never forget this because it was really jarring for me, ‘I think you just need to focus on one and be known as one thing and just do that really well.'”
Schultz says he decided in the spring of 2022 that he was going to be “just an NFL insider.” He said it hurt to “abandon” his first love of basketball but he “felt like in football there was more white space, more opportunities, more players, more coaches, executives. I had developed some relationships within the NFL space and was able to break some stories in the 2022 cycle. And then once I defined that, it was not only valuable for others externally to see, but it was really valuable for me to know this is all I’m going to do now.”
Schultz, who currently lives in New York and grew up in Seattle, is traveling to Los Angeles each week and contributing on a variety of shows for FOX Sports and then is also on remotely as needed or when breaking news occurs.
In addition to working on NFL scoops, he is now talking NFL each week on Instagram Live with four-time NBA Champion Draymond Green. It’s not a traditional podcast where they record it, and it’s later available on Spotify or YouTube. As Schultz explained, “in some ways it’s a podcast, but it’s more just a casual show, two guys talking about football.”
The idea came up from being connected by mutual friend Michael Rattner of OBB Studios who is producing the show. He and Schultz were wanting to do a project together and Rattner mentioned his relationship with Draymond.
“Immediately when I heard that name, my ears perked up because of who he is, what he’s accomplished, and maybe more importantly, for our sake, how good he is on the air,” Schultz said. “I had been listening to his podcast for quite some time and seeing him on TNT and felt he was really, really good.”
After a couple of zoom calls to brainstorm ideas and then to flush out what they visualize doing, Schultz flew out to Los Angeles to spend a day with Green.
“We all sat in a room and went over exactly what we wanted to do in terms of a weekly show. I realized very quickly how much he loved football and how much he knew about the game. And that’s when it really solidified for me that we had a real show. I was taken aback by how different he was in person than what I saw on the screen…He has a way about him that is so wonderful in person where he’s really listening to what you’re saying. He’s engaging with what you’re saying, asking questions that are important to the conversation, that advance the conversation.
“I just was blown away by him. Not only his humility, but his curiosity. He’s very curious. He’s all about learning, advancing his intellect, and something that my dad taught me that Draymond, I could see, was very comfortable with, and this is something that I’m very comfortable with, and I think it’s why we vibed so well so quickly was he’s very comfortable with not being the smartest person in the room, and I’m the same way. I like surrounding myself with smarter people. I think it’s the best way to learn, and he’s the same way, and so that was super refreshing.”
As Schultz described the show and what it will be each week he said, “It’s not going to be X’s and O’s. It’s not going to be film breakdown. It’s going to be a broader conversation about the NFL, about the game itself, the challenges that players face. We’ve had some really insightful guests on who have created such valuable conversation, whether it’s Pat Surtain a couple days after he signed his record extension, Joe Mixon after he gets AFC Offensive Player of the Week, De’Von Achane talking about the fastest five players in the league and what would happen if him and Tyreek Hill raced, and then Noah Lyles, oh by the way, came along to talk sh– to Tyreek. These are the conversations that we’re having.”
The live show is on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. ET with the idea that people will tune in before watching the Thursday Night Football game. They talk some basketball, always getting an update on what is happening with the Warriors. Schultz feels the schedule Green and his teammates have on a daily basis is very relevant to the conversations they have on the show. He wants viewers to take away insights on what it means to be a professional athlete in addition to talking about specific football topics.
“I want to get his perspective as a first ballot Hall of Fame basketball player discussing football, a sport that he hasn’t necessarily played a whole lot of. With football, I think he’s really curious to go down that route and learn more about the game through me and through our guests on the show. But, at the same time, offering that basketball perspective that he’s had for so long. Because all professional athletes, I think, go through the same struggles and success, whether it’s injuries, lack of playing time, not playing well, everything. And Draymond has had it at the highest level.”
Green’s unique perspective and the guests mix well with the insider information and the relationships that Schultz adds to the mix. Recently, Schultz broke both big NFL trades involving Amari Cooper and Devontae Adams.
As for the life of being an insider, Schultz said, “It’s a fascinating life decision. For me, I’d say I fell into it more than anything else…But then I really attacked the space in terms of growing, cultivating relationships, putting myself out there. And by 2023, I broke Rob Gronkowski’s retirement, which was a big plus for me. I think it really validated me and helped put me on the map. And then another year goes by, 2024, and it was an incredibly successful free agency cycle for me, trade deadline, et cetera. I just felt like I really had put myself in a super positive position to create noise and disrupt the space because it’s a very small space to operate in. It’s extremely competitive. But I think I’m the most competitive person I know.
“[To want be an insider] I think you’ve got to have a little crazy. You’ve got to have a lot of competitiveness. And you have to be okay with being told no because a lot of times a story is already spoken for, and you have to be okay with that. And I’ve accepted the fact that there’s so many scoops to get that I’m not ever going to get all of them, and I’m totally okay with it. As competitive as I am, I’m also really realistic about how it is and how hard it is to get these scoops. I’m really dedicated to it, but I’m also, I think, crazy enough to do it.”
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
