ESPN criticized for telling stories of NFL Draft prospects' family tragedies on broadcast

Jordan Heck

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ESPN criticized for telling stories of NFL Draft prospects' family tragedies on broadcast image

Being selected in the NFL Draft is a special moment for any player who gets to experience it. Years of hard work, practically your entire life, has built up to this one occassion when it all pays off. There's still more work ahead, but draft night is something special.

Many of the prospects who are lucky enough to make it in the NFL Draft have their own personal life stories they've dealt with. Whether it be a parent who died when the prospect was young, or a relative with a medical condition that made an impact on the player.

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And if you've been watching the NFL Draft on ESPN, then you probably know all about these stories. Because they've been abundant, and hard to miss. While personal stories of overcoming tough life obstacles has always been a part of the NFL Draft broadcast storytelling, for some reason this year there seemed to be more of them.

So much so that it's actually become a talking point of the NFL Draft, with many viewers left wondering if this is all really necessary. One viewer was Broncos pass rusher Bradley Chubb, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

One of the more widely criticized cases was when the Bengals drafted Tee Higgins in the second round. ESPN put up a graphic of his "Get To Know" card which included facts like his hometown and his basketball career. Then at the end it added, "Mom, Camilla, fought drug addiction for 16 years."

A similar card was made for Laviska Shenault, a wide receiver who was drafted to the Jaguars. His third fact on his "Get To Know" card read, "Mother, Annie, contracted and survived West Nile virus in 2012."

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In addition to these cards, the broadcast frequently brought up stories about prospects with sad piano music playing in the background. One extreme case was when they were telling the story of Javon Kinlaw's childhood and said he "walked over dead bodies" to get his home.

ESPN also spent a few minutes on the suicide of Jordan Love's dad, going into detail about how his father’s blood pressure medication may have played a role. These are good stories to share in the right setting when the prospects feel comfortable talking about it, but literal seconds after hearing their names called felt wrong and almost exploitative.

The company provided the following statement to Sporting News regarding their draft coverage:

Our NFL Draft coverage analyzes the prospects on the field and introduces the human side of the players by telling their stories, including the obstacles their families have overcome as part of the journey to the NFL. 

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People on social media couldn't help but take notice of how often this was happening.

 

Jordan Heck

Jordan Heck Photo

Jordan Heck is a Social Media Producer at Sporting News. Before working here, he was a Digital Content Producer at The Indianapolis Star. He graduated with a degree from Indiana University.