This week’s Sports Media Podcast prepares for one of the biggest sport events of the spring -- one that has nothing to do with on-field competition (well, at least not yet). Co-hosts Austin Karp and Mollie Cahillane speak with Chris Simms of NBC Sports and the “Unbuttoned” podcast.
Simms, who the Bucs picked in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft, offers his takes on where the event stands in today’s media landscape, what it means to be a prospect, how it’s evolved since his days as a pick and how he’d feel about being an analyst on the Draft should NBC acquire the media rights.
These excerpts have been lightly edited for clarity.
On the NFL Draft’s evolution as a TV product: “I love it. First off, there ain’t that much great sports this time of the year to watch, so what am I watching Thursday night? OK, round one, more football. Oh, Friday night, round two and three, perfect, more football. And then Saturday you get rounds four, five, six, and seven. But it just speaks to where the NFL is in its hierarchy in our country right now. It’s as popular as ever. It’s more popular than all the other sports combined. ... There’s the NBA Playoffs. We just got done with the Final Four, and this time of the year still in American sports, like the NFL Draft, where there are no games playing, and we’re talking about looking at guys with their shirts off, and stuff like that, is the most popular thing in town.”
On the intrigue of high-ranked prospects falling in the first round: “You have risers and fallers, too. I believe in a big way that, just because there’s narratives out there about players after the college football season, the important NFL evaluators haven’t even evaluated yet. And there’s sports media personalities and guys that are the anchors of highlight shows telling us who they think is the first round pick, and they mislead the public to now build up a guy, or build them up in all our eyes, to where he might be overrated as compared to when the real NFL evaluators start to dive in and dissect a guy.”
On the possibility of NBC Sports getting media rights for the NFL Draft: “I would love that. It’s right up my alley. I don’t know how well you guys know me, but I’m obsessed with football. I grew up in it. That’s all I do is live, eat, breathe football. I’m not afraid. I have a big mouth, and I’m not afraid to share unpopular opinions at times. I’m not worried about what everybody else is saying. I’ve been taught and around football my whole life in the NFL, so I’m pretty confident in what I see and believe, and how I’ve been taught the game through some of the special coaches and evaluators through my time. ... I am here at NBC Sports right now and have the job I have because of this topic. This is where I made a name for myself. I was the one that said Patrick Mahomes should be the first pick of the draft. Lamar Jackson should be the first pick of the draft. Josh Allen should be the top quarterback off the board. So that’s really where I’ve gained notoriety and climbed the ladder in the sports media world, because of some of my draft evaluations. And I would love to do it. I’d be all for it.”
