The NFL has now pinched every possible section of the draft-pick hose.
In addition to directing broadcast partners (a/k/a the people who pay us billions to televise our games) to instruct their reporters to zip it, the league has told the teams to give the reporters nothing to unzip.
“Teams are expected once again to withhold reporting names of all draft picks via any platform (social media, email, team web sites, etc.) until after the announcement by the Commissioner or his designee at the podium,” NFL Media czar Brian Rolapp wrote Monday in a memo to all teams. “We strongly encourage teams to emphasize to all personnel the importance of not disseminating the identity of a selection to any outside parties until it is announced. This includes other teams’ selections, as well as your own team’s.”
Teams get the information about every pick before the pick is made. In past years, teams routinely have blabbed. This memo represents an effort by the NFL to tell the teams to say nothing to any reporters about their plans -- or about the picks anyone else has made before those picks are announced.
The rise of Twitter has made it easier to the leaked picks to make the rounds to fans who wanted to hear the pick from the Commissioner’s mouth (assuming he can be heard over the boos). At what point does the NFL’s newest broadcast partner get squeezed to start suspending the accounts of anyone who is actually tipping picks?
