Adam Schefter knows you watch football — especially the National Football League — differently these days. Fantasy sports are everywhere, from the more traditional fantasy leagues you compete in with friends or the daily fantasy explosion that’s provided the league and its broadcast partners with an infusion of advertising dollars in recent years.
Schefter is investing more of himself in fantasy football this year. Outside of his reporting duties, he teamed up with Marriott Rewards to offer a fan a chance to get some insider info for their fantasy team. Bid a few thousand rewards points and you get Schefter giving you tips on how to win your fantasy league.
He sat down with Uproxx to talk about how fantasy sports have changed the way fans watch the modern NFL. He also talks about his relationship with Adrian Wojnarowski and the changes at ESPN over the last few months. We even ask if there’s any reason for Bills or Jets fans to hope this year and whether politics have a place in football.
This is the time of year people are starting to look critically at their favorite teams, but also draft fantasy teams. Do you think the perception of player values has changed because of fantasy sports?
That’s 100 percent true. Especially if you’re talking about quarterbacks. Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, former number one overall picks. In 12-team leagues they might not be drafted. But that doesn’t mean they can’t play. People think of them in other ways.
Jonathan Stewart’s a great football player, but he’s going around pick 100. So I think there are issues there in terms of how people think about them. It’s a fantasy world now. The people that play fantasy love it, and that’s how they think about it.
I’ve been covering the sport for 28 years now, and it used to be that when you’re getting ready for the season people are like ‘How are the Jets going to do? How are the Giants gonna do? How are the Broncos gonna do?’ I don’t get those questions near as much now. I get ‘Give me a sleeper’ or ‘Who’s your sleeper? Is my guy gonna be healthy enough to start this weekend?’ People, I think, are much more interested in their fantasy teams than they are in the team they root for. That’s kind of what the world’s become.
So how involved are you going to be in fantasy football this year? Are you playing in any leagues?
I love fantasy and I think my involvement in this Marriott program has come from that. Marriott rewards had me address a crowd at the Draft, day two. And they’ve been nice enough to personalize it with this platform called Marriott Moments. Now, basically, in this auction that lasts until August 24, we auction off a winner and that person will have a weekly phone call with me.
I did it last year with a guy and we became buddies. We’d go over who’s injured, who’s not. Who’s starting, who’s not. Who he should get from the waiver wire. And I think in a day and age where people love fantasy as much or more than their actual teams, this experience personalizes the fantasy football experiment and hopefully gets them some insight that other people might not have.
Do you think it’s just because of the gambling aspect of it, the chance to make money with fantasy football? Or is it just easier to watch the league when you have a fantasy team?
I have a friend who’s a diehard Jets fan, and I just think of him. He’s got his fantasy team, and he’s told me in recent years that he’s begun to care more about his fantasy team than the Jets team. And it might be because the Jets haven’t won, but I think a person from Buffalo would have a similar conversation. Somebody who loves playing fantasy, who’s a hardcore player, would probably have a similar reaction. Like, ‘I love my team but I love my fantasy team just as much.’
Your fantasy team you can control. Your fantasy team, you have a vested interest in. And your team, too, but I just think it’s another point of evidence, another situation that shows you how the popularity of fantasy has evolved.
Speaking of the Bills, are they at the point where they are starting to figure it out? They haven’t made the playoffs in 17 seasons and counting, but are things different in the organization or are they still a wayward franchise?
I think they have the right people in place in Buffalo. I think Sean McDermott and Brendon Beane are going to be very good. They’ve got some really good coaches that they’ve put in place there. I like what they did this offseason. I have confidence in a lot of the people that they added. They made good moves. But let’s be honest, it’s been so long that people in Buffalo — they’re hopeful, but they’re also skeptical. And so they’re skeptical because it’s been such a drought and they’ve been so depressing.
But I think they put people into place that give them a chance now. To have a chance. And that’s all you can really ask right now. We’ll see the moves they make. You have to solidify the quarterback position — I like Tyrod Taylor, but they don’t seem overly compelled to keep him, sort of like a lukewarm endorsement of him when they kept him. But if Tyrod Taylor can be the guy he is, then I think they’ll be in good shape.
ESPN has changed a lot over the last few months, with some notable reporters and staff leaving the company. But big addition has been basketball reporter Adrian Wojnarowski. Do you know him very well? Do you get to interact with him at all?
Listen, I have great respect for great reporters. And Woj is fantastic at what he does. I do know him, we have talked in the past. I consider him a friend. I think he’s fantastic at what he does.
I know that people have made a big deal about the exits at ESPN, and I hate to see so many great people go out the door, but there’s also been some great people who’ve come in the door too. And I don’t know if that’s gotten as much attention as the people who have walked out the door.
So I’m a Woj fan, and I think having him on the team is a big asset.
Reporting for ESPN is different than at some other organizations. You are more careful in how you send out tweets, and I know you at least used to have a story written before you’d be allowed to break news online. Has that changed the way you’ve approached your job? Are you in a better position than other reporters because of the care they take with newsbreaking?
I don’t know about that. I know that I just try to do my job the right way and handle things the right way. I’ve been fortunate enough to know these people for a long time. I have longstanding relationships in this league and that, to me, is a privilege. It’s something that I’ve worked hard to try to do. I think that people are thinking of more of the way I’ve handled my relationships with them in the past than how careful or not careful ESPN is with certain things.
Have you ever had a source come from a place that’s surprised you? Or at least get information from a place you weren’t expecting it would come from?
There have been times I’ve worked really hard on a story and been tracking it and put a lot of time into it and I did not get that story, unfortunately, for some reason.
There have been other times where I’ve not made any calls or have not dug in on anything and all of a sudden something falls into my lap in a weird, convoluted way. And so, gain, I think over time these things sort of even themselves out. You sort of get the stories that you weren’t expecting, you lose some stories that you were expecting. And overall you just try to attack each day, do the best job you can and hope that everything works out as well as it can. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. It’s sort of like life itself. And if it doesn’t work out, there’s always going to be something else around the corner that could work out.
I’m sure you’ve heard enough of “stick to sports” on Twitter when it comes to reporting about things that get political. But do you think it’s important for fans to understand the politics of owners and players and the front office and how they impact the game?
I think that organizations are aware of the fact that everything the do is going to reflect on them. So if a player gets into trouble or folks get into trouble off the field, it doesn’t reflect well on the organization.
There’s a controversial crisis that’s surrounding an organization, that doesn’t look good for them. For years the Bengals were the butt of a lot of jokes and Marvin Lewis has done a really nice job of cleaning things up by and large, getting things straightened out and you don’t hear as many jokes.
I think there’s so much scrutiny on the league, the sport, the team, these days, that people know if there are people that step out of line — embarrass the organization — they’re gonna get eaten up. That’s just the way it is in this day and age, so I think people are more aware and careful. Not only because it’s right, but because they have to be.
