NFL Network Pulling Out All The Stops In Plans For Draft Coverage

NFL Network “has assigned 40 staffers” to cover this week's NFL Draft, and the net's "main set in New York for opening night features a cast of familiar figures: host Rich Eisen and analysts Marshall Faulk, Mike Mayock, Steve Mariucci and Michael Irvin,” according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Eisen, Mayock, Charles Davis and Brian Billick will “share the set on Friday,” and college coaches Bret Bielema (Wisconsin), Butch Davis (North Carolina), Brian Kelly (Notre Dame) and Nick Saban (Alabama) will join Eisen, Mayock and Davis on Saturday. NFL Network execs “believe one of the advantages of its coverage is draft room access, and to that end the network will be inside the draft rooms of three of the first five selections and six of the top 10 picks.” NFLN also “has reporters at 10 team facilities across the country and plans an extensive look” at Broncos Exec VP/Football Operations John Elway's first draft as an executive. Deitsch noted while ESPN has "scaled down its coverage this year,” NFLN has “bulked up.” NFL Network Exec Producer Eric Weinberger said Saban and Butch Davis “really understand the league and they will really help us on Day 3 when we're really trying to put this draft in perspective.” Weinberger: “We love getting more and more football people involved on the third day.” Meanwhile, Weinberger said the net will address the labor situation “if there is news,” but it will “address it no differently than we have been since this started, which is fair and balanced.” Weinberger: “We will try to educate the viewer where we can how this is a different draft with labor hanging over its head. ... We won't dwell on it unless news dictates we have to” (SI.com, 4/25).

NEWTON'S LAWS OF VIEWERSHIP: Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton is widely projected as the top overall pick in Thursday's draft, and USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand notes Newton “is like a talking point sent from the sports gods.” He is “likely the most famous draftee ever.” Still, a “drop-off in viewers for the lavish draft coverage on ESPN and NFL Network this week would be an early return on whether the labor impasse is affecting fan interest” (USA TODAY, 4/26).