We've analyzed the draft, now it's time to analyze the draft coverage
by taking a closer look at what the personalities of ESPN bring to the table:
Mel Kiper, Jr.
Mel and the NFL Draft are like peanut butter and jelly. His knowledge is unsurpassed and his presentation is unmatched.
Not to mention the hair. Only Steve Lavin's slick back even comes close to Mel's. No matter what grade he gives the Lions, Mel gets an A+ from me every year.
Chris Berman
Berman still does a great job of running the show. His trademark phrases of "just throwing it out there..." and "BUT" plus
his Berma-names for people (a la Rich "Loose" Gannon) never get old in my book.
Chris Mortenson
Mort does a solid, consistent job and is a pretty reliable source of information. Not exciting, but is a good contributor. I like him.
Torry Holt
As Berman might say to Tom Jackson, "TJ, What?!?!?!" I don't know what Torry was doing on ESPN, but he was bad. He contibuted nothing of value other than wearing a cool looking necktie.
When he retires from football he might want to find a career in something other than TV. Please don't quit your day job, Torry.
Hank Goldberg
Unless you're a fan of the Miami Dolphins or horse racing, Hank really adds nothing to ESPN. A monkey throwing darts at random teams would probably be more accurate at predicting NFL games than Hank is.
Suzy Kolber
I really like Suzy. Not just because she's very attractive, but she really knows what she's talking about, too. She did an excellent job of covering day 2 of the draft this year. She's also good on SportsCenter and NFL Matchup.
Not to mention the whole Joe Namath incident. Not only was that really funny, but she handled the situation with a lot of class.
Ron Jaworski
Ya gotta love listening to "Jaws." I've never heard anyone put so much emphasis on syllables at the beginning and end of each sentence. He's also good at breaking down the film and analyzing QBs.
On the downside, I do think there's a little bit too much of him during the draft. It's not really his fault - The more they go to him, the less we hear of Mel and the more we hear from Merril Hoge. That's bad. I am definitely a fan of Jaws, though.
Merril Hoge
Merril is the worst analyst on ESPN, bar none. He's just terrible. He has very few positive things to say about anyone and his criticism is usually some petty thing that he blows way out of proportion (and that's assuming his criticism makes any sense to begin with).
I have to say he really dresses like a dork, too. He usually wears a suit coat that has at least 4 buttons on it and makes his shoulders look like they're on a 45 degree angle. I'm sure he's a good guy and I think it's really unfortunate that he had the concussion problem, but geez, he's just a brutal analyst.
Andrea Kremer
I don't really have a problem with her on NFL Countdown, at least in small doses. She's does okay with her reporting on that show.
However, as far as the draft goes, she really needs to go. Her interviews are so boring. I really don't care what she thinks or what the players think that she's interviewing. Whenever they
go to her, NFL draft watchers everywhere let out a collective groan. Why do we have to watch Andrea Kremer when we have Mel Kiper? Why?!?!
Tom Jackson
He wasn't on the draft, but I think he should've been. He's a pretty good analyst, works well with Berman, and is always good for a few laughs. Plus, you can't tell me Torry Holt is better than TJ.
Joe Theismann
Like TJ, I'd also like to see Theismann make an appearance at the draft. I think some people don't like him because he's kind of a know-it-all.
Honestly, he kind of is. But I think he's a very smart analyst and he's never shy about expressing his opinion. I like listening to him because he's insightful and good for some humor every now and then.
Personally, I think the best announcing team in all of football is the ESPN Sunday night crew of Patrick, Theismann, and Maguire.
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