“With the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers select…”
Commissioner Roger Goodell will reveal the selection Thursday night on several television networks. The NFL and its partners, NFL Network, ABC and ESPN will provide coverage of this year’s draft from Kansas City. The production and spectacle have come a long way since it was first televised by ESPN in 1980.
The start-up network made a request to then commissioner Pete Rozelle. He then took ESPN’s request to the 28 NFL owners and they overwhelmingly rejected it. Rozelle didn’t care that the owners had just told him no. The innovator behind ‘Monday Night Football’, NFL Films had a work around to get this thing done.
“Pete walked out of that room and turned to me and said, ‘Call Chet Simmons (at ESPN) and tell him that he’s gonna do the draft as a news event. And we can’t stop him from covering it.” Jim Steeg, the NFL’s VP of special events at the time, told Sports Illustrated.
And the rest, as they say, is history. From its humble beginnings 43 years ago, the NFL Draft telecast has become a spectacle of sorts. It’s a big industry.
The draft is also huge when it comes to radio. Fans want to hear the local perspective to balance out what they may be seeing and hearing on the national scene. It’s so important, for teams to get that information out there.
Local teams will be using their hometown broadcasters. These folks are the trusted connection between the franchise and its fan base. They follow their teams closely and are extremely credible when it comes to information. They will undoubtedly be appearing on their respective flagship stations during the weekend. So, even though there are no games to call right now, these announcers and analysts alike will still be preparing and getting ready to speak intelligently about who is drafted.
Jeff Joniak is the voice of the Chicago Bears. He’ll be starting his 23rd season behind the mic for the team. Joniak is always prepared. Always. I’ve worked with Jeff before and he gave me my start, doing sports in Chicago in 1995.
“Andy, you have known me for a long, long time! You know I am digging in deep to the draft,” he told me. “I feel it is a great opportunity to find out as much as I can about as many players as I can and that information adds to my data base of in-season notes. I definitely overdo it, but I can always use the knowledge. Love reading about how these players put themselves into position to fulfill lifelong dreams and get to the NFL.”
Wes Durham will start his 20th season of calling Atlanta Falcons football. His prep work for the draft is a little different for a couple of reasons. One, he’s only hosting a show for Round 1 and not all weekend. Still, there is prep involved.
“I think the deep dive for Jeff (Joniak), who’s doing it all weekend long, or for me, who’s doing just the bulk of my work Thursday night, I think you have to be (prepared) in some respect,” said Durham. “It’s the time where play-by-play guys also shift-play analysts a little bit. Jeff’s got Tom Thayer and I’ve got Dave Archer and both guys are prepared. In Arch’s case, he digs in on this. He has a notebook Thursday night. He’s got a notebook on just about every player.”
Durham has one other advantage over a lot of the NFL play-by-play announcers. He’s been calling college football since the late 1990’s.
“I guess I get the benefit, because I work college football, so I have at least some working knowledge of just about everything in the first round,” Durham told me. “It’s really when you get into the weeds that you know, it’s the challenge, right? I mean, it’s the kind of a guy who either falls or who you take in the fifth, like last year, we took Tyler Allgeier out of BYU in the fifth. You know, most people in Atlanta obviously don’t follow BYU, right? I’d watched enough BYU to know about him.”
Joniak, who will be on the air or in front of the fans all weekend long, is definitely paying attention to the chatter in the league.
“I will be monitoring every vibration of the draft, to see who goes where after I have studied so many of these prospects,” he said. “Certainly, I will be paying close attention to what the rest of the NFC North is doing as well. Now that Aaron Rodgers is a New York Jet, what the Packers do next is also intriguing.”
But then there’s his team, the Bears, who have already made a trade out of the number one spot. Now they will be on the clock at number nine. So, there’s a lot of local flavors for Joniak to be looking out for.
“Well, certainly what the Bears are going to do with the 9th overall pick in the first round. Will they take an offensive tackle? Will they go defensive line? Cornerback? Will they deal down and collect more draft assets? I assume everything is on the table. It is fun right now for Bears fans. This week signals another stair step in the rebuilding/reloading process that started a year ago under General Manager Ryan Poles and Head Coach Matt Eberflus.”
GMs, scouts, and coaches are certainly busy in the time leading up to the draft and of course on draft day. The same type of schedule holds true for the broadcasters. Teams and the radio flagships will use them early and often.
“Yeah, we’re on the flagship radio station (92.9 The Game) right as the draft starts until the end of the first round, potentially or 11pm, whichever kind of comes first,” Durham says. “We used to be at the stadium, but this year because of three nights of Taylor Swift, we are going to be at a Falcons fan draft party at Atlantic Station.”
Durham and his crew will have to “Shake It Off” and put on a great show for the fans.
The Atlanta Falcons website, will also feature Durham just before the draft starts.
“Dave Archer and I are involved in a one-hour digital show that airs at seven o’clock on AtlantaFalcons.com,” Durham said recalling his schedule. “We’re gonna do that with Derek Rackley, who does some Westwood stuff, who played in the league, played in Atlanta for a long time. It’s kind of a draft preview.”
The schedule is sort of the same for Joniak, minus the Taylor Swift issue.
“ESPN 1000 is the new radio rights holder for the Bears, and now that I am working with the great team at Good Karma Brands, they have Tom Thayer and myself sharing the airwaves from 2p-6p Thursday on the Waddle & Silvy show live from Soldier Field,” he said. “The Bears have Tom and I hosting the team draft party from 6p-10p live at Soldier Field after our radio commitment. We will get a live interview with the first-round pick. The event is sold out, so it should be an outstanding, revved up environment.”
Joniak will be busy all weekend long.
“For days 2 and 3 of the draft, I will be stationed at the Bears headquarters at Halas Hall in suburban Chicago. I will have a variety of duties on their platforms, and getting ready for post-draft interviews for our Bears Draft review that airs live on Sunday night on Bears TV partner Fox-32 Chicago with Lou Canellis and (Tom) Thayer. It’s a great week, and plenty of football to discuss.”
It all gets going Thursday for the announcers and many others at radio stations across the country. The NFL seemingly has no offseason anymore. Covering the league has become a year-round job for those involved. That includes the broadcasters, as you can tell. It’s why Joniak and Durham are so respected in the industry and so admired by their team’s fan bases.
