The Athletic's Chad Graff is leaving the Minnesota Vikings beat
Chad Graff is returning to his roots on the East Coast to cover the New England Patriots for The Athletic, meaning his time on the Minnesota Vikings beat is over.
Graff announced his decision Monday morning, saying he'll begin covering the Patriots next week.
"I have to confess, though — this wasn’t an easy decision. Minnesota has meant so much to my wife and me. It’s where we became adults and where we spent the entirety of our 20s. It’s where we bought our first house. It’s where we made life-long friends," Graff, who grew up a Patriots fan, wrote.
He said it is "the only job that could have pried us away from Minnesota."
Minnesota has meant so much to me. This was a brutally hard decision. This state will forever hold a special place in my heart and I’ll always be grateful to this amazing state. But I couldn’t ignore the allure of going home any longer. https://t.co/Z8FjPW5Ahq pic.twitter.com/eB1wBYnWmI
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) August 1, 2022
This past June, Chad and Samantha hosted a charity golf tournament in the name of their firstborn daughter, Ana Rose, who died from a rare chromosome disorder. The event raised more than $33,300 for the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.
Arif Hassan will continue to cover the Vikings for The Athletic.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.