As the start of the NFL Draft draws near, Adam Schefter is working the phones connecting with teams from around the National Football League to determine what could potentially transpire. Widely regarded as one of the preeminent sports journalists with earned credibility and trust, it can be argued that his reporting possesses credibility rather than conjecture. Schefter is immersed within the journalistic process throughout the year, gathering intel and contributing these perspicacious insights across ESPN platforms through the written and spoken word.
Concurrent with the beginning of NFL Draft week, Schefter filed a column delineating what he has been hearing as fans try to forecast how the proceedings could ultimately play out. Reflecting on last year’s version of the story, he cited an NFL general manager who expressed “an undercurrent of support” surrounding quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix despite the team not awarding a first-round grade to either player. From there, Schefter added that there was speculation that Penix could be selected as high as No. 8 overall by the Atlanta Falcons. Utilizing this previous experience, Schefter aspires to continue fulfilling his multifaceted role this year in Green Bay.
“I was not able to fully confirm that it was Penix at the time,” Schefter said. “I had my suspicions, but you knew it, so you’re on the phone with people, you’re getting texts… [and] there’s an internal gauge that you can kind of feel things coming, and so that’s kind of the deal with that. And again, your job is to have conversations and understand where things might be going, not get blindsided, be on top of things, be ready for TV and be ready for that telecast that night.”
The deluge of quarterbacks selected in the first round of the NFL Draft became a prevailing storyline on which Schefter reported in addition to making other contributions to overall ESPN coverage. Having a grasp of what is taking place around the league and serving the viewing audience is part of his job, but there are entropic components embedded therein that facilitate fluctuations in his schedule. When Schefter is not on television, it gives him opportunities to catch up on his other reporting responsibilities, and he ultimately divulges information across a variety of outlets.
“Every day is different because you just don’t know how the day’s going to evolve,” Schefter said. “In the NFL world, there could be something you never anticipated happening that takes over the day or not.”
Information First and Only Information
With the start of training camps still several months away, franchises around the league are on the precipice of investing in promising young talent and shaping their rosters for kickoff. Schefter looks to deliver information in an upfront and unbiased manner, conveying the facts to the audience with thorough reporting. Trying to avoid any presumed gray area, he simply states what he has learned and responsibly communicates such to the audience.
“I just try to be as straightforward and as objective as I can be, period,” Schefter said. “Again, I know people have talked about this being transactional, and that’s definitely a part of it, don’t get me wrong, but there are other issue-oriented subjects and little hints that you can provide of things that are going on and happening that I think help shape the discourse surrounding a certain topic or subject.”
Having been in the business for more than 35 years, Schefter accrues stories in a variety of ways, making it difficult to standardize his specific reporting process. There are occasions when sources will reach out to inform him of a forthcoming trade about which he had no previous inclination. While Schefter values the intel he receives in these circumstances, he considers it more meaningful that people thought of him in these moments, amassing invaluable currency in journalism as intrepid reporters search for scoops.
“There are things that I’m regularly checking on – some that happen, some that never do,” Schefter said. “There are things that I didn’t know that all of a sudden come together quickly, and somebody might be thinking of you. Stories come in all different sizes, shapes and forms. How they play out, your role – there’s no one set pattern.”
When Schefter was attending graduate school at Northwestern University, the first thing he learned pertained to always inquiring about the validity of information. In fact, he was instructed, “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out,” and he likes to articulate that he has still not fully confirmed the sentiment years later. Schefter has, however, been able to break news on countless transactions, injuries and other seminal league occurrences, and he does not take his position in the business for granted.
“You just know that certain people are in the thick of things and they understand it and know it, so if on Draft night a team texts me, ‘We’re trading back,’ I don’t have to double check it, I know it’s true,” Schefter explained. “Where you get nervous is people that you haven’t dealt with, people that you don’t have relationships with, people that are coming to you, they say things. They might not fully grasp the power of words and whether something is about to happen or will happen or, ‘Where are we in this process?’”
The Importance of Breaking News on Social Media
Leading up to when Schefter started his role at ESPN in April 2009, he would disseminate information without social media platforms. Shortly after starting at the company, he joined Twitter and amassed a following that now eclipses over 11 million users. With the incessant flow of information and consistent interest, Schefter has participated in the rapid dissemination of such intel and oftentimes is among the first people to break or confirm news.
“I had zero social media presence, and now that’s a huge part of the job, and now the news cycle has shifted to where it used to change day to day and now it changes minute to minute, literally,” Schefter said. “When I was in the newspaper world, you’d file a story to your desk at 7:00 at night to be in the morning newspaper at 7 in the morning the next day, and then the news cycle would start up again.”
While some media members use digital media distribution software to post across social media platforms or utilize assistance, Schefter does everything manually with the exception of the first round of the NFL Draft and first day of free agency. Part of the rationale in taking this approach relates to the importance of language and how to accurately depict what is occurring.
“I know how I want things phrased, so I like to do that,” Schefter said. “That matters to me because I think all these words that we use are rather significant and important, and that’s my business. Just like there are people whose business is graphics and there are people whose business is producing and there are people whose business is editing and there are people whose business is reporting – whatever it is – I’m a reporter and a writer, and I like to have things phrased the way I want them phrased.”
Earlier in the year, ESPN introduced reporter breaking news alerts to its app that distributes push notifications to users in real time. The unofficial beginning of NFL free agency last month coincided with various service disruptions on the X platform, leading fans to turn to other platforms to follow the action. As this was taking place, Schefter was posting news on the ESPN App and imagines that it will be something the company leans into more going in the future. Schefter’s alerts through the app drew more than 1.4 million subscribers in less than two months, proliferating by 40% throughout the free agency week.
“ESPN just developed this [function] within the last couple of months, and by the way, it’s something that me, [Adrian Wojnarowski] and the other insiders have been talking to them about for years,” Schefter said. “We’ve been encouraging them to develop a tool like the one that they’ve now come up with, and if you had asked me in 2009, ‘Where do you see Twitter going?,’ I would not have guessed that, in many cases, it would be the first outlet for a lot of news and information, but it morphed into that, and now ESPN has its own app to do those sort of things.”
In addition to a direct-to-consumer service expected to launch this fall, ESPN is also going to be unveiling significant enhancements to its app featuring integrations with different areas of its business. ESPN and The Walt Disney Company are also in the midst of preparing to broadcast Super Bowl LXI to conclude the 2026 season, marking the first time the media conglomerate will present the championship game since being televised by ABC in 2006. Schefter is going to be part of this coverage under a multiyear contract extension announced in March 2022 as he continues to appear across an array of programming discussing the league.
“I’ve seen a countdown clock in the ESPN Café counting down to the Super Bowl in LA,” Schefter explained, “so you know it’s there, you know it’s coming, you know a lot of people are gearing up for it, but frankly right now, I’m just focused on the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wis., not the 2027 Super Bowl in Los Angeles.”
A Desire to Leap Into a Variety of Roles at ESPN
Although his role is primarily focused on the NFL, Schefter has worked on other sports coverage at the network, including serving as a sideline reporter on NBA broadcasts. In fact, there have been instances where he has divulged NBA news on social media, deviating from his usual timeline but indicative of his versatility as a reporter. While he does have interest in other sports, he reiterated that his focus will continue to remain on football until something changes.
“It’s always invigorating and exciting to step into a different form with different people with a different routine that you haven’t done for 35 years and just try something new,” Schefter said. “That’s exciting and refreshing. Would I want to do more of it in the future? I’m certainly open minded to it, but again, I work for ESPN, and I do what they tell me to do.”
With the NFL Draft mere hours away, Schefter is maintaining his position as a trusted, venerated source of information and insights for consumers. While several mock drafts seem to prognosticate that Miami quarterback Cam Ward will be selected first overall by the Tennessee Titans, nothing is guaranteed until the pick is submitted and the distinctive chimes ring indicating the newest entrant in the league. Schefter will be live on ESPN platforms this Thursday and Friday enterprising and delivering news and information in real time as the league ushers in the next generation on the gridiron.
“Covering the NFL is a beast, and every day is a different challenge, a different storyline, a different issue,” Schefter said. “You never know whether it’s going to be a player’s Draft stock plummeting on Draft night when he’s caught on video smoking from a bong or whether a player is going to dramatically rise up in the Draft and go higher than people [thought]. There are all sorts of things that happen, and so I don’t worry about any of that other stuff. I just worry about trying to do the best job that I can.”
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Derek Futterman is a former associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. Find him on X @derekfutterman.
