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Fans were not happy with ESPN's 2026 NFL Draft broadcast

With all the pre-draft buzz about the number of trades that could take place, and the uncertainty at the top of the draft behind the Las Vegas Raiders, the hype for the first round of the 2026 NFL draft on Thursday was palpable.

The problem was viewers who tuned in to watch the ESPN broadcast, which featured Mike Greenberg, Mel Kiper Jr., Louis Riddick, Booger McFarland, and Adam Schefter, and the NFL Network broadcast, which featured Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, Joel Klatt, Ian Rapoport and Kurt Warner, were left highly frustrated.

Because of the NFL’s new time limit on first-round picks (8 minutes), the selections were seemingly coming in quicker than either television broadcast was prepared for.

Picks were also being tipped on social media, and by the time NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took to the podium to announce a new selection, fans were already 2-3 picks ahead of what was being broadcast in real time.

Fans Voice Frustration With Draft Presentation

GettyTy Simpson rose to No. 13 in the draft on Thursday.

NFL fans weren’t shy about letting ESPN and NFL Network know just how irritated they were with the products that was presented to them on TV.

“ESPN is so far behind on picks. 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,” former NFL offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz said.

“Tonight was brutal. No other major sporting event is tape delayed like this. Can’t imagine seeing on twitter that Mahomes threw a TD. Then seeing it on TV 15 min later. They need to figure it out,” one fan scoffed.

“I have no idea how to even watch it at this point. Seems like you either have to watch it exclusively on twitter and the pageantry is removed or watch it live with your phone notifications off and not be able to have the context for anything or be able to talk about it with people,” another fan stated.

“With 2-3 min commercials between picks, and the announcements, and interviews… there’s zero room for analysis,” one user wrote.

“They do far too many packages. I watched it for 10 seconds before going back to NFL Network,” remarked another user.

“I have yet to see a pick on ESPN/NFL Network that I haven’t read about on X/BlueSky first,” one fan exclaimed.

“Too many commercials. I know those pay the bills but you had teams like Cleveland with 2 picks and never heard from either player,” another fan replied.

What Were the Biggest Issues?

GettyFans gather in front of the stage prior to Round One of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium on April 23, 2026 in Pittsburgh.

Among the chief gripes with the NFL Draft was the fact that the whole first round felt rushed. Fans barely had time to digest the picks as they happened.

By the time each pick was announced, the players walked out on stage, posed for a photo, did a brief in-person interview, and the draft crew gave a mostly surface-level breakdown of the pick, it felt like the next selection was ready to be announced.

In addition to the 10-15 minutes disparity between social media and live television, fans watching on ESPN were seemingly fed just as much — if not more — advertisements than actual NFL draft content.

Wrestling fans had the same complaint days ago while watching WrestleMania 42 on ESPN. Just 37.29% of the two-day event was actual matches, while ads made up another 19.6% (the other 43.1% was comprised of wrestler entrances, promos, and pre- and post-match activities).

Fans ripped WWE for “selling out” with the ad-heavy event, and it seems ESPN didn’t learn it’s lesson.

As it pertains to the draft, fans also complained about excessively long player walkouts from the green room to the stage, seemingly pointless interviews, and player video packages that all cut into the actual time for picks to be analyzed.