NFL fans got a little bit annoyed at College GameDay's Nick Saban for calling a Dallas Cowboys draft pick "a reach" last week. But one NFL reporter believes that the fans who are annoyed at Saban are a bigger problem than the comments.
On Monday's edition of PFT Live, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio posed the question why it's suddenly become wrong to criticize player selections on draft night.
“When did it become a faux pas, when did it become frowned upon to say a guy’s a reach?” Florio asked. “What’s wrong with that? That used to be OK, but now it’s ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, we can’t…’ And I think it’s all under the guise of, we can’t undermine this kid’s moment, so we’re not going to say anything. They can take anyone in that spot; they can take a punter in that spot. They could take a long snapper in that spot. They could take me in that spot, and they’re never going to say, ‘Maybe we could’ve gotten this guy later.'”
Duty to the Audience
Florio's broadcast partner Chris Simms argued that nobody wants to upset the apple cart and anger teams to the point that they lose access. But Florio wasn't buying that argument.
“What you get with the ex-coaches is they have relationships with these teams, and these people and they don’t want to offend them either. That’s always going to be the question with coaches when they’re on TV. Are they gonna really let you know the truth? Are they going to really let it be known, or are they going to be worried about hurting the feelings of their other coach friends in the business?” Simms argued.
“Your loyalty is to the audience,” Florio replied. “Your duty is to the audience. You need to be honest with the audience. This isn’t some political game. You can’t worry about who may be upset because you speak the truth. If they’re upset, that’s their problem. Now, look, I understand that doing that can create some complications in your life. Then don’t take the job. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be careful what I say here. I might piss off this person. I might piss off that person.’ You’re going to piss off the audience because you’re going to be untruthful to the audience.”
© Denny Medley-Imagn Images
Florio might not like it, but NFL analysts are always going to be reluctant to speak critically of the people they're in the industry with. He might feel that analysts and TV pundits have a "loyalty" or "duty" to the audience, but that's not true.
Loyalty and duty belong to the company that employs them.
If Florio is looking for more honest analysis from analysts and pundits, he should be watching how people who are self-employed with nothing to lose by making a controversial take react to the daily news of the day.
