Viewers beg ESPN for urgent fix as NFL draft dogged by ’embarrassing’ broadcast after rule change

Super Bowl champion Mitchell Schwartz was furious at ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage.

The league announced a rule change reducing the time between picks from 10 minutes to eight and Thursday’s broadcast lagged well behind proceedings.

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Schwartz — a three-time All-Pro tackle who played for the Cleveland Browns before winning a ring with the Kansas City Chiefs at LIV — aired his complaints on social media.

“ESPN is so far behind on picks,” he posted on X. “They’re going to have to figure this 8 min thing out because they can’t be 10+ min behind real time.

“The whole tipping picks thing is irrelevant when you feel like you can’t be on social media because the TV is that delayed.”

Viewers fume at ESPN NFL Draft coverage

Schwartz wasn’t the only person struggling with the coverage.

“ESPN royally f***ing up this draft coverage the picks getting leaked like 5 minutes before we even see them on TV lol,” wrote a viewer.

“It’s like the TV producers slept thru the meeting where the NFL changed the time between picks to 8 minutes. these guys are WAY behind and the draft just started. absolutely embarrassing display,” added Warren Sharp.

“The NFL Draft is an entirely made for TV event that TV production has made unwatchable,” vented analyst Jeff Bell.

While NFL Contributor Marcus Mosher declared: “I think ESPN’s broadcast last night was the worst we’ve ever seen for the draft. You can’t be that far behind. People will stop watching.”

Not everybody was in the same boat.

“The pace of the draft has improved ESPN’s coverage of the draft. Less time for ESPN small talk. Less people at the desk or talking. Booger, Kiper, and Riddick have been solid. I’ve enjoyed the coverage,” chimed one viewer.

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The change was approved in December and some general managers feared the event would become rushed.

“I’d love to have 10 minutes, but, hey, it’s the same for everybody else, so eight minutes, it is what is,” Pittsburgh Steelers exec Omar Khan said Monday.

Khan would definitely have enjoyed more time to reflect after seeing the Philadelphia Eagles trade up to snatch Makai Lemon while he was on the phone to the Steelers.

He was then accused of reaching for Max Iheanachor — a Nigerian basketballer who became a tackle after moving to the U.S..

“They moved the first round from 10 minutes to eight minutes, so naturally we’ve been having more conversations to set parameters of what the value is if you move up to this spot or trade back,” Khan added. “There’s more conversation, but until we get there, I’m not sure how that’s going to go.”

Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy joked that GMs should try calling plays.

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“I only get 40 seconds to call a play,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”

The time was last changed in 2008, when the clock was reduced from 15 minutes to 10.

How long do teams have to pick in the later rounds?

Teams will still have seven minutes in the second round, five minutes in rounds three to six and four minutes in round seven.

Hopefully ESPN has got the memo ahead of the 7pm E.T. start.

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