ESPN reportedly wants to keep Kirk Herbstreit on draft coverage after successful debut
ESPN made a concerted effort to merge its college football coverage with its NFL coverage for Round 1 of the NFL draft.
For the first time, the network had College GameDay live at the draft leading up to the event in Dallas. It also tried something a bit different with its actual broadcast.
ESPN added Kirk Herbstreit to join Trey Wingo, Mel Kiper Jr. and Louis Riddick. Herbstreit brought the college football perspective to the broadcast, which some would argue lacked in years past.
Apparently, it went over well with his bosses. The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch reported that ESPN wants to keep Herbstreit on its NFL draft coverage:
If you liked @KirkHerbstreit last night on the NFL Draft, here is good news for you. His bosses already want him back for next year’s opening round. A look at last night’s NFL Draft coverage for @TheAthleticHQ. https://t.co/PKaCtt9ato
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) April 27, 2018
Deitsch’s story quoted an ESPN executive that said that the network wants him on the draft broadcast coverage for years to come.
Those who watched the ESPN broadcast saw Herbstreit and Kiper have a difference of opinion on several prospects, most notably No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. Herbstreit liked Mayfield the best of all the quarterbacks while Kiper favored Wyoming’s Josh Allen, which made for interesting pre-draft discussion.
Here’s hoping we get many more Herbstreit/Kiper disagreements and maybe some more awkward moments like this:
Mel Kiper is not familiar with the fist bump pic.twitter.com/UhOXCgTVXd
— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) April 26, 2018