Did ESPN's Adam Schefter deliberately sit on his big Aaron Rodgers news for months to boost the network's NFL Draft ratings?

The Big Lead

Last Thursday, Schefter announced less than five hours before the NFL Draft that Rodgers is so disgruntled with the Green Bay Packers that he doesn't want to return to the team. The report ended up hijacking Day 1 of the NFL Draft with many assuming that Rodgers' camp deliberately timed the news to break just before the draft. But Schefter admits that Rodgers' camp had nothing to do with the news breaking before the draft. In two interviews this morning Schefter said he had known the Rodgers' news for months and chose to break it hours before the draft based on an "accumulation of information." While Schefter wouldn't admit it, it seemed like he timed his announcement to boost interest and, thus, ratings in this year's NFL Draft. "Why would he do such a thing? Obvious isn't it? To drive ratings. And wouldn't you know it, mission accomplished," says The Big Lead's Brian Giuffra. But Schefter's decision to sit on the news raises the concern that he, as a reporter, deliberately impacted the draft. "It matters because the story served as a near-total eclipse of the draft (but also may have caused more people to tune in, in order to see whether Rodgers would be traded during round one)," says ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio. "It also matters because it peels back the curtain on the gamesmanship that can happen — and that does happen — when reporters don’t report what they know when they know it, but when they instead hold it for a later date."