Well folks, we survived! We made it through a long, football-less summer. College football gave us everything we wanted in week 1 and now it is time to turn our attention to the NFL.
Arky, Demetri and Garrett are back again to highlight everything and everyone that is great when it comes to the coverage of America’s national obsession. So here is the full schedule for the NFL edition of Countdown to Coverage:
TUESDAY (9/6): Best Local Radio Show
WEDNESDAY (9/7): Best National Radio Show
THURSDAY (9/8): Best Pregame Show
FRIDAY (9/9): Best Insider
MONDAY (9/12): Best TV Broadcast Team
The NFL insider is one of the most lucrative positions in sports media. Every network has one. Many networks have more than one.
The best of the best have spent their careers building up contacts and cultivating relationships. You know the old saying that you’d rather be right than be first in journalism? Well, these men and women have built their careers on being right faster than anyone else.
Garrett, Arky, and Demetri went a little bit off the board with their picks. You won’t find any Schfters or Glazers on this list. That is not to say the biggest names in this field are not good at what they do. In fact, it is a testament to their influence and success that so many reporters see how lucrative it can be to be a great insider.
JOSINA ANDERSON by Garrett Searight
When you think of NFL Insiders, who is the first person that comes up? Probably Adam Schefter. Well, Josina Anderson is like Adam Schefter but without all the incredibly troubling tweets, credibility issues, completely incorrect reporting, and dubious relationships with agents.
Anderson breaks news and shares insights that don’t make me think “just who in the hell is feeding them this information?”. It’s clear players trust her, which has always been the most difficult aspect of being an NFL insider. It’s easy to get coaches, front office personnel, and agents to like you, especially when you’re doing their bidding. But the players? That’s a tough nut to crack. And no one has cracked it like Josina Anderson.
IAN RAPOPORT by Arky Shea
This is a lifer pick. I am of a certain age and physical locale that by first exposure to Rapoport was covering the University of Alabama. He covered the Crimson Tide for AL.com (Birmingham News) and that spot, at the time, was where I kept up with anything happening in the state. He was one of two trusted sources of news I’d read about that team. He’s now the NFL Network’s Insider and has entered his tenth season with that title.
I’ve followed him over to the league and no other insider has earned my trust more than Rapoport. He’s quick to the news, gives the full context and it’s a tough-ass battle because there are literally two guys trying to out-type each other. The two biggest things that top it for me with Ian: one, he has always been competitive about getting stories and getting them right but has never been afraid to give major props if someone has a big scoop he didn’t get. A lot of times that’s a simple retweet which is, as we know, is different than writing your own tweet and saying “[insert name] had it first”. Secondly, he may not look like it, but the guy has a pretty decent sense of humor about the position he is in and can have fun with it. It’s evidenced by the fact he is Pat McAfee’s go-to Insider.
JONATHAN JONES by Demetri Ravanos
The rest of the country is going to learn what all of us in North Carolina have known for a while now – people in the NFL like talking to Jonathan Jones. Since my sports talk career began, I have watched him grow from the Charlotte Observer to Sports Illustrated to now being the go-to insider on CBS’s The NFL Today. That is quite the rise.
JJ’s information never sounds like a press release. He, and maybe he alone, is at the cool kids’ table in this game because players see someone around their age. In a lot of cases, some of the biggest stars in this game and Jones became adults together on two different sides of the information exchange. That is why when other insiders sound like mouthpieces for coaches and GMs, Jones is the guy so many of us trust to reveal what is really going on in the locker room.
