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Round 1 of the NFL Draft Could Not Have Gone Better for ESPN: TRAINA THOUGHTS

ESPN's 2020 NFL virtual draft mostly went of without a problem.

Jimmy Traina

1. Kudos to all of the ESPN production people who worked on Thursday night's NFL draft. The virtual evening went off without any major glitches and couldn't have gone smoother.

After a rough start thanks to a disjointed pre-show that tried to balance gravitas with awkward humor, and the Bengals not making the first pick until 8:25 p.m. ET, the ESPN telecast flowed extremely well and technology was a non-issue.

The at-home aspect for GMs and coaches generated more interest on social media than the actual picks. With no bombshell trades early on and picks going mostly as expected, Kliff Kingsbury's house, Bill Belichick's war room and Jerry Jones's yacht were the only things people wanted to talk about.

A few random thoughts on the coverage:

• As with any studio show, I always think more is less. NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah was the standout analyst of the evening, but he had to share time with several other people because ESPN and NFL Network combined forces. 

• Now I'm going to contradict myself. While I want fewer analysts, I would've liked to have seen hosting duties split in half between Trey Wingo and Rich Eisen. Eisen does a fantastic job every year, but was shut out of hosting this draft because NFL Network did not air its own version. It would've been nice if Wingo hosted picks 1 through 16 and Eisen hosted 17-32. If Wingo's sense of humor isn't your cup of tea, that was a long night for you.

• Out of all of the people you saw on camera, the only one who had a bad night was Roger Goodell. He flubbed a couple of things, was nothing but awkward in his forced interactions with people, and came off like a complete robot.

2. The single best moment of the entire draft came when CeeDee Lamb's girlfriend (we assume) tried to take a peak at his phone. 

Now that Lamb is officially a pro athlete, we're sure one of his first investments will be a burner phone. But we give Lamb credit for his damage control attempt afterward.

3. I would pay money to know how this public apology came about.

4. If anyone would like to pull audio and video clips from Mike Francesa's show, go right ahead.

5. Lest anyone think Al Michaels might join Twitter one day, it's not going to happen.

6. Sopranos stars, and the hosts of the new Talking Sopranos podcast, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, joined the latest episode of the SI Media Podcast. We went in-depth on many aspects of the show: the writing, whether things were ad-libbed, the deaths of Bobby and Christopher, Pine Barrens and much more. The guys also defended the Knicks and James Dolan.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: If you've never seen these old NBA promos that featured Ali G "interviewing" stars such as Shaq, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash and the TNT Inside the NBA crew, enjoy. And if you have seen them, watch them again and have a laugh.

7. SPORTS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Joe Burrow had the best season I've ever seen from a college quarterback last year. Hopefully he can now give the Bengals a moment that will top this one.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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