For National Football Authority, we read between the lines of Jon Gruden’s contract extension with ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Is Gruden really going to be in the booth through the 2016 season, or could a coaching offer still sway him? Click here to read our take.
Jon Gruden, via blogblitz.nfl.com
Filed under Football Relativity, National Footbal Authority, NFL announcers
Recently, Heath Evans decided to retire as a fullback and join the NFL Network (as recorded in this post: http://wp.me/ppN7T-1Bv). We interviewed the ex-Saint, Patriot, Dolphin and Patriot for National Football Authority and discussed his retirement, his foundation, and also the commonalities between the Saints’ and Patriots’ success. Click here to read all about it: http://www.nationalfootballauthority.com/2011/08/nfa-exclusive-interview-with-nfl.html
Heath Evans, via nola.com
Filed under Football Relativity, National Footbal Authority, NFL announcers
Chad Pennington. Image via Wikipedia
For the last two weeks, the day job had me at Wayfarer Camp, so I wasn’t able to keep up with NFL news. One of the items I missed was the fact that Chad Pennington is leaving the field – at least for a year – to move to the announcing booth with Fox. Below are some thoughts on the move; you can see how Pennington’s addition compares to other announcing moves in this updated post.
Pennington, an 11-year veteran quarterback, never had great physical gifts, but he combined adequate arm strength with exceptional intelligence, instincts, and guile to become a first-round draft pick and a multi-year starter with the Jets. But injuries have sapped what little arm strength Pennington had, and so instead of fighting for a job in Miami or elsewhere, he’s going to take at least a year off to move to the NFL on Fox team. Pennington will be paired with Sam Rosen on what was Fox’s No. 5 team last year. It’s actually a pretty plum gig for Pennington – he leaps over recent retirees Trent Green, John Lynch, and Kurt Warner on Fox’s depth chart, falling below only Brian Billick and Jim Mora among recent additions. Pennington’s New York experience and savvy are two promising signs; now he must live up to his broadcast potential. If he does, he adds more depth and recent experience to a Fox lineup that is light years younger and therefore significantly better than CBS’s slate. It’s unclear at this point whether Tim Ryan, Rosen’s former partner, will return to Fox. With Charles Davis moving to college games, Ryan could join the three-man booth with analyst Jim Mora. But Fox would be wise to keep Ryan, who isn’t a high profile name but who has consistently provided great analysis in his nine years with the network.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
The NFL news is coming in drips and drops as the lockout continues, but Monday revealed another piece of the 2011 NFL announcing puzzle, as CBS hired veteran Marv Albert to call NFL games. Albert will fill the hole created by Gus Johnson’s departure. Below are some thoughts on Albert’s addition to the CBS roster; you can see how it compares to other NFL announcing moves in this updated post.
Marv Albert, via espn.com
Albert is best known for being the voice of the NBA for NBC, TNT, and also the Knicks and Nets, but he has a long legacy of calling NFL games. For nearly two decades, Albert was an NBC play-by-play announcer, spending most of them in the high-profile No. 2 position for the network. But his high-profile personal issues cost him that job in 1997. Albert returned to calling NFL games for Westwood One’s Monday Night Football and playoff radio broadcasts in 2002, and he has called 10 Super Bowls for that network. Now Albert returns to the NFL with CBS, whom he first worked for after the network teamed with TNT to broadcast the NCAA tournament this spring. Albert has a big-time and distinctive voice, and his long history calling games will immediately add depth to the CBS bench. The question is whether Albert will slip into the CBS lineup in Gus Johnson’s former No. 5 spot, or whether he’ll jump a younger voice like Kevin Harlan or Ian Eagle. Given how old CBS’s game-calling crews are as a whole, moving Albert up too high would be a mistake. CBS needs to develop and feature younger voices like Eagle and Spero Dedes more prominently. But if Albert stays in a mid-tier role, he’s certainly as good as a replacement for Johnson as was available.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Over the weekend, we posted the opening paragraphs of our comparison of new and moved announcers for the NFL 2011 season. This week, another couple of announcers moved, as Gus Johnson left CBS for Fox, where he will be teamed with Charles Davis on Fox’s growing college football coverage. Below are some thoughts on the move; the comparison will connect it to other announcing moves.
Gus Johnson has become the internet’s favorite announcer with his emphatic and enthusiastic style. Despite his popularity, though, Johnson’s 15 years at CBS never featured him moving up the ladder all that much. He was always fighting to be on a top-four team for CBS’s NCAA basketball tournament coverage, and Johnson worked with Steve Tasker on CBS’s No. 5 NFL team. Maybe it was too many Bills or Jaguars or Bengals games for Johnson – even though he called crazy plays like this year’s Jaguars Hail Mary or the crazy Brandon Stokely touchdown in 2009’s Week One. Now Johnson moves to Fox, where he will team with Charles Davis to become the network’s top college football voice. Davis, who called BCS games for Fox as well as working on the network’s No. 3 team for the NFL the past two seasons, isn’t flashy, but he’s a terrific analyst who will be a nice counterbalance to Johnson’s enthusiasm (much like Len Elmore has been during March Madness). Johnson and Davis will spend most of 2011 on FX, the Big Ten Network, and other lesser networks, but starting in 2012 they will be the featured voices for Fox’s Pac-12 coverage. They’ll also draw Big 10 and Pac-12 championship games in football and Pac-12 basketball tournaments. That means Johnson and Davis will see less NFL action, mainly at the end of the year. That leaves Dick Stockton and 2010 rookie Jim Mora without Davis, which should be OK, and could mean that a solid team like Thom Brenneman/Brian Billick or Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan moves up the ranks. Meanwhile, on CBS youngster Spero Dedes could step into the regular rotation as a play-by-play guy. Johnson and Davis spending most of their time on campus is the NFL’s loss, but it’s probably a good career move.
(One extraneous thought that I tweeted: Attention @nbaontnt – Gus Johnson is available for next year’s playoffs. And Dick Stockton even older for next year’s playoffs. Just sayin’)
Filed under archive, Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Each year, we compare the national TV announcers that enter the NFL business or find new gigs. We will do this using our Football Relativty scale, with 10 being the moves we like best, and 1 being the move that matters least. We’ll add to this comparison as more moves are announced.
NFL Network's Mike Mayock, via blog.49ers.com
10 – Mike Mayock and Brad Nessler, NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football – Once again, the NFL Network revamped its announcing duo, but this time the network got it right. Mayock is NFLN’s franchise player as a draft analyst, and he proved his game analyst chops last year doing Notre Dame games on NBC. Mayock then went on to do one NFL game, the playoff game between the Saints and Seahawks, and his serious approach and insight into game strategy and trends was enlightening. He’ll be a massive improvement over ex-NFLN analysts Joe Theismann, who tends to be a blowhard and falls victim to a disturbing inattention to detail, and Matt Millen, a good analyst who tended to be brought down by Theismann’s act. Mayock works with Brad Nessler, a play-by-play vet who has done mostly college football for ESPN (among other sports) but has had a couple of NFL cameos on the opening-week Monday night doubleheaders. Nessler has a more authoritative voice than former play-by-play man Bob Papa, who merited staying over but won’t get the chance. Still, the Nessler/Mayock pairing feels like a big-time booth, which is something the NFLN has never hit on because of massive weak spots like Theismann or, before him, Bryant Gumbel.
9 – Kurt Warner, NFL Network – Warner, who called a few lower-level games for Fox last season, is moving to NFL Network full time to be a part of GameDay Morning each Sunday, as well as the network’s pre- and post-game for Thursday night games. That job fits Warner better than game analyst, because it will allow him to speak to macro issues and express his thoughtfulness. Plus, Warner adds a new dimension to a pre-game show that doesn’t have a quarterback on it right now. Warner should become a long-time fixture on NFLN, and he gives the network a fourth Hall of Fame caliber player with Marshall Faulk and Michael Irvin (both already in) and Warren Sapp. It looks to be a great fit.
9 (con’t) – Bill Parcells, ESPN – Parcells has bounced between the NFL and broadcasting for nearly two decades now, and he’s proven that he’s an excellent analyst. Now he joins ESPN and jumps onto the Sunday NFL Countdown show. He’ll immediately become a key contributor, because his keen eye for talent and presentation makes him more valuable than fellow ex-coach Mike Ditka. Parcells will also get a draft confidential special and a Super Bowl confidential special, and he’s proven that such shows can be the equivalent of Jon Gruden’s QB camp in terms of insight. Parcells is a TV star, and he’ll be a huge asset to ESPN’s pregame show lineup.
8 – Marv Albert, CBS – Albert is best known for being the voice of the NBA for NBC, TNT, and also the Knicks and Nets, but he has a long legacy of calling NFL games. For nearly two decades, Albert was an NBC play-by-play announcer, spending most of them in the high-profile No. 2 position for the network. But his high-profile personal issues cost him that job in 1997. Albert returned to calling NFL games for Westwood One’s Monday Night Football and playoff radio broadcasts in 2002, and he has called 10 Super Bowls for that network. Now Albert returns to the NFL with CBS, whom he first worked for after the network teamed with TNT to broadcast the NCAA tournament this spring. Albert has a big-time and distinctive voice, and his long history calling games will immediately add depth to the CBS bench. The question is whether Albert will slip into the CBS lineup in Gus Johnson’s former No. 5 spot, or whether he’ll jump a younger voice like Kevin Harlan or Ian Eagle. Given how old CBS’s game-calling crews are as a whole, moving Albert up too high would be a mistake. CBS needs to develop and feature younger voices like Eagle and Spero Dedes more prominently. But if Albert stays in a mid-tier role, he’s certainly as good as a replacement for Johnson as was available.
7 – none
6 – Chad Pennington, Fox – Pennington, an 11-year veteran quarterback, never had great physical gifts, but he combined adequate arm strength with exceptional intelligence, instincts, and guile to become a first-round draft pick and a multi-year starter with the Jets. But injuries have sapped what little arm strength Pennington had, and so instead of fighting for a job in Miami or elsewhere, he’s going to take at least a year off to move to the NFL on Fox team. Pennington will be paired with Sam Rosen on Fox’s seventh team. Pennington’s New York experience and savvy are two promising signs; now he must live up to his broadcast potential. If he does, he adds more depth and recent experience to a Fox lineup that is light years younger and therefore significantly better than CBS’s slate. Rosen’s old teammate, Tim Ryan, is now with Chris Myers on the No. 5 team as Fox shuffles its lineup.
6 (con’t) – Gus Johnson and Charles Davis, Fox – Gus Johnson has become the internet’s favorite announcer with his emphatic and enthusiastic style. Despite his popularity, though, Johnson’s 15 years at CBS never featured him moving up the ladder all that much. He was always fighting to be on a top-four team for CBS’s NCAA basketball tournament coverage, and Johnson worked with Steve Tasker on CBS’s No. 5 NFL team. Maybe it was too many Bills or Jaguars or Bengals games for Johnson – even though he called crazy plays like this year’s Jaguars Hail Mary or the crazy Brandon Stokely touchdown in 2009’s Week One. Now Johnson moves to Fox, where he will team with Charles Davis to become the network’s top college football voice. Davis, who called BCS games for Fox as well as working on the network’s No. 3 team for the NFL the past two seasons, isn’t flashy, but he’s a terrific analyst who will be a nice counterbalance to Johnson’s enthusiasm (much like Len Elmore has been during March Madness). Johnson and Davis will spend most of 2011 on FX, the Big Ten Network, and other lesser networks, but starting in 2012 they will be the featured voices for Fox’s Pac-12 coverage. They’ll also draw Big 10 and Pac-12 championship games in football and Pac-12 basketball tournaments. That means Johnson and Davis will see less NFL action, filling in on eight-game weeks for Fox. On CBS youngster Spero Dedes could step into the regular rotation as a play-by-play guy. Johnson and Davis spending most of their time on campus is the NFL’s loss, but it’s probably a good career move.
5 – Jerry Rice, ESPN – ESPn hired Rice, perhaps the greatest player ever, to serve as an analyst for NFL Live, SportsCenter, and the Thursday night Audibles show. It’s an interesting move. Rice is one of the best players ever, but can he translate his expertise into succinct analysis? Many have tried and failed. Still, it’s worth the gamble for ESPN to add someone with Rice’s pedigree. If he works out, it’s a coup; if he doesn’t, he’s still Jerry Rice, which counts for something for the viewer. And since ESPN is easing him in, Rice will have the best opportunity to succeed.
4 – Hugh Douglas, ESPN – Since his retirement in 2004, the former pass-rush specialist has been an engaging and sometimes controversial commentator in the Philadelphia market. Now he moves to the national scene, joining ESPN as a studio analyst who’ll be used on SportsCenter, NFL Live, First Take, ESPN News, and other platforms. It’s not ESPN’s glamour job, but Douglas should get plenty of air time in the role. He’ll definitely make an impression, and his willingness to call out players and coaches will make him memorable. Don’t be surprised if Douglas earns a promotion at ESPN before too long.
4 – Josina Anderson, ESPN – Anderson made a splash as a reporter for the Fox affiliate in Denver, consistently breaking national stories from a local beat. That’s not easy to do, and it led her to a correspondent role on Showtime’s Inside the NFL. Now she moves to ESPN, where she’ll be an NFL reporter with chops. This is a deserved call-up to the national scene.
3 – Eric Mangini, ESPN – Mangini also joins the World Wide Leader as a studio analyst. He worked for ESPN during last year’s playoff run, bringing insight to the Jets/Patriots matchup since he is a Bill Belichick disciple and a former Jets head coach. We’re always all for hiring recently fired coaches, because they see the league in ways few others can. The question is whether Mangini can take that knowledge and communicate it in a way that fans understand and enjoy. Mangini won’t have the big personality of other former coaches turned broadcasters like Herman Edwards or Brian Billick, but like a Jim Mora, he should be able to make some keen insights. It’s a nice addition for ESPN.
3 (con’t) – Damien Woody, ESPN – Woody, who retired this offseason, also latches on with ESPN as an NFL studio analyst. The fact that Woody played all across the offensive line will add to his credibility, and being in the league up through last year helps as well. But Woody must establish his personality pretty quickly so that he’s not lost in the forest of ESPN’s uber-deep analyst roster (which did trim Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn).
3 (con’t) – Heath Evans, NFL Network – Evans retired during training camp and landed with NFL Network. He has experience playing for both the Saints and Patriots, which means he should bring good insight to two of this year’s contenders. He also has an outspoken personality that should help him make a mark. While he wasn’t a big name as a player, Evans has a nice future in television.
2 – Rodney Harrison, NFL Network – Harrison isn’t leaving his high-profile studio job at NBC; he’s merely adding midweek responsibilities with NFL Network. From our perspective, that’s a great thing – we always want to see more of Harrison.
1 – Michelle Tafoya, NBC’s Sunday Night Football – Tafoya has long been a fixture as a sideline reporter, most recently with ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Now she moves to Sunday nights to work with the crew that she did MNF with back in 2004-05. Tafoya is a professional, and she adds good information on the sidelines without devolving into the prepackaged stories that so many other sideliners do. As MNF lessened the duties of its sideline reporters, it makes sense for Tafoya to find a more prominent role. It’s unclear at this point whether Tafoya is joining or replacing current SNF sideliner Andrea Kramer.
1 (con’t) – Alex Flanagan, NFL Network – Flanagan replaces Tafoya as the sideline reporter on NFL Network’s Thursday night games. Flanagan has proven to be a terrific sideliner doing NBC Notre Dame games, as well an NBC playoff game last year, and she’s also a NFL Network host. That makes her a perfect fit for an enhanced role.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Last year we started a tradition of comparing the new announcers added to the roster of major national outlets for the NFL season. (Here’s last year’s post.) In this comparison, we’ll compare the importance of new hires, major movers, and some guys who added side jobs this season. The 10 level indicates the announcers with the best chance of making a national splash; the 1 level is for announcers who you probably won’t even notice in 2010.
10 – Jim Mora, Fox – The younger of the coaches named Mora, who was the Seahawks’ head coach last year, will move onto Fox’s No. 3 announcing team with Dick Stockton and Charles Davis. That’s a soft landing spot for Mora, because Davis is a pro who will allow Mora to feel comfortable finding things to say instead of forcing out comments after every play. But Mora will face the challenge that all former coaches have – especially those who have dreams of coaching once again. Can he be critical? Can he be honest? Or will he pull punches in an effort to avoid making enemies? Mora has the gumption to be honest, and if he does he could develop a la Brian Billick. But if Mora doesn’t do so, it’ll be incredibly easy for Fox to move him down the roster – or off it entirely. Still, Mora has the privilege of one of the higher profile new announcing gigs.
9 – none
8 – Kurt Warner, Fox – The recently retired Warner, who has done some Arena League games for NFL network this summer, takes the route of many high-profile quarterbacks and lands in announcing. But unlike many of those QBs, instead of starting in a high-profile studio role or top game-announcer, he’s starting at the bottom of the national totem pole. He takes over for Trent Green on Fox’s No. 7 team, which means he’ll only work selected weeks when Fox has a full game slate. That may actually be a blessing for Warner as he seeks to develop as an announcer. This role will give him room to grow and make mistakes without being in the national glare, and if he emerges he certainly has the street cred to move up the charts quickly. But Warner is also close enough to the bottom of Fox’s roster that, if he struggles, he can be cut without much notice. So Warner must show signs of ability quickly, or else he’ll be looking for a new post-retirement career.
7 – none
6 – none
5 – Joe Theismann, NFL Network – Theismann, who for years irritated viewers with his verbose and grandiose declarations of the most obvious things on Sunday Night Football, joins the NFL Network’s booth for Thurdsay-night and Saturday-night games. It’s an annoying addition, not just because Theismann is terrible, but because the Bob Papa/Matt Millen team ended up being pretty good last year. Millen actually has insight about what’s happening on the field, while Theismann doesn’t seem to see inside the game. His performance in an NBC wild-card playoff game last year was awful, yet it somehow got him another gig. If NFL Network wanted a third man in the booth, they had much better options on their roster – Marshall Faulk, Steve Mariucci, Warren Sapp, Tom Waddle, just to name a few. This move makes no sense, and we can only hope it’s short-lived.
4 – Antonio Pierce, ESPN – After a nine-year career with the Redskins and Giants that included a Super Bowl win and a Pro Bowl bid, Pierce hung up his cleats to join ESPN’s roster of analysts. He’ll appear on NFL Live, SportsCenter, and ESPNEWS and also contribute to ESPN’s web and radio platforms in New York. It’ll be hard for Pierce to establish a role nationally on ESPN’s crowded roster, but his years under the New York media spotlight have polished him to the point that he’ll look good on camera. As always, having a player who’s competed against most guys he’s analyzing is also a plus – if the player can be honest. Only time will tell if Pierce clears that hurdle, but if he does he could have a bright future in the business.
3 – Brad Nessler and Trent Dilfer, Monday Night Football – For the fourth straight year, ESPN will open its Monday Night Football schedule with a doubleheader. For the past three years, the late game has been called by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, along with either Mike Ditka or Steve Young. But Greenberg isn’t the smoothest play-by-play guy, and the radio duo’s penchant for going topical irritated fans. So this year, ESPN will go to veteran play-by-play man Brad Nessler, who spends most of the fall on college football, for the game. He’ll pair with Trent Dilfer, an NFL Live analyst who has shown a penchant for incisive, insightful, and strong commentary. We’re excited to see Dilfer in the role, because we admire his talents and wish he had an even more high-profile role. This is his chance to show he can be a top-flight game analyst.
2 – Spero Dedes, CBS – Dedes has moved into CBS’s play-by-play roster for the NFL this year, working on a No. 6 team. Dedes also worked the NCAA Tournament for CBS, and he’s best known as a Lakers announcer. In recent years, he has hosted NFL Network’s Gameday Morning, but Rich Eisen moves from postgame to take over those pregame duties.
1 – Jay Glazer and Daryl Johnston, NFL Network – Glazer and Johnston, both Fox staples, are adding NFL Total Access duties to their repretoire. Both will be studio analysts for the NFL Network show. We include them here just for the sake of the record.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Longtime Bucs LB Derrick Brooks, who is still looking for an on-field gig, has landed for right now with ESPN. Here are some thoughts on him (and his new ESPN First Take teammate Drew Bennett) as an announcer; you can see how he compares to other new and moved announcers in this post.
Brooks still wants to play, but until he finds a fit on the field he’s landed at ESPN. Brooks will start out on ESPN2’s First Take, filling a role that Jamal Anderson, Kordell Stewart, Lomas Brown, and Ray Buchanan have had in the past. Brooks is smart, and his recent playing experience will lead to good insights and stories, but he’ll have to turn his likability into humor and chatter if he’s going to succeed in the morning-showish First Take model. Brooks probably will work better in the NFL Live/SportsCenter type of shows eventually, but you get the sense that ESPN wanted to add him where it could when he was available.
Bennett, who had success as a wideout in Tennessee before flaming out as a high-dollar free agent in St. Louis, retired after a one-day stop in Baltimore in training camp this year. He doesn’t have the star power or the Q rating that ESPN’s other studio additions, Tedy Bruschi and Derrick Brooks, have, and so Bennett will have to do more to make an impact on the airwaves. It’s possible – just ask Tim Hasselbeck – but it’s an uphill climb in the most crowded analyst environment in the media.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
ESPN worked the waiver wire this week, picking up recently retired linebacker Tedy Bruschi for their various studio shows. Here are some thoughts on Bruschi’s hire; you can see how his burgeoning broadcasting compares to other 2009 hires in this post. We’ve also included bits on new NFL Network personalities Michael Irvin and Jason La Canfora here and in the new post.
Bruschi, who played in four Super Bowls and won three as a linebacker in New England over 13 years, is staying in the region by landing at ESPN as a studio analyst for its various midweek shows. Bruschi will bring a current knowledge of the league and an inside knowledge of its most inscrutable team, the Patriots, which are both assets. But for Bruschi to thrive, he’s going to have show the personality of recent ESPN hire Marcellus Wiley or the no-holds-barred criticism of ESPN’s Trent Dilfer and Steve Young. If he’s just another talking head, he won’t stand out on a massive roster of analysts, and that’s a recipe for a short tenure.
Irvin was a bust as an ESPN analyst because his aggressive bluster was too often baseless or just silly. But he’s improved over the past few years on his radio show in Dallas, and he may be ready once again for a studio shot on NFL Network’s postgame coverage. Perhaps the discipline of having to defend himself to sports-radio callers will make Irvin defend his points better and turn his bluster into opinions that are still strong but more defendable. If so, he can be a big plus for the league-owned outlet.
La Canfora, a former Washington Post reporter, takes Adam Schefter’s old spot as the NFL Network’s insider. He has big shoes to fill, because Schefter is aggressive and connected, and there’s no way that La Canfora can jump into the role immediately at the same level as Schefter.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Fox has released its full slate of announcing teams for NFL coverage this offseason (or at least leaked them to Pro Football Talk, which you should really be following on Twitter). There are two new names on the list — Trent Green and Charles Davis – that we have yet to discuss. We’ve added the profiles of Green and Davis to this post that compares all new NFL announcers this season. (John Lynch, who is semi-new, was covered in that post already.)
Charles Davis – Davis was a no-name before Fox started using him as the color announcer for the BCS national championship game a few years ago, but he’s incredibly good. With Fox soon losing the BCS, it makes sense for them to move Davis onto their NFL roster. He’s going to be on the No. 3 team, which is a huge complement to his ability. The only strange thing is that Davis never made it in the NFL, and so he’ll be commenting on something outside of his experience. But he’s so polished that it won’t end up mattering in the end.
Trent Green – Green has shown a lot of promise as an announcer in his offseason studio appearances, but you never know how that will translate into game announcing. I’m a little afraid that Green will end up like Rich Gannon, who had similar promise right after retirement but hasn’t really been spectacular as an announcer. For now, we’ll give Green the benefit of the doubt and take a listen, but to excel he’ll have to translate his knowledge of the game and likability into the short bursts he’ll speak between plays.
Filed under Football Relativity, NFL announcers
Football Relativity 