Adam Schefter Slams Pro Football Talk After NFLPA Disputed So-Called ESPN Report About 17-Game Schedule
By Jerry Trotta
We never thought we'd see the day where two of the NFL's most prominent insiders would be involved in a dispute on social media, but stranger things have transpired, right?
The NFL Players Association has recently been mulling over the NFL's proposal for a 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement, which includes a proposal for a 17-game season.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has been keeping close tabs on the meetings, which are taking place in Los Angeles, and went on to cite ESPN's Adam Schefter for tabbing March 18 as the deadline for the NFLPA to make their decision. Schefter, however, replied to Florio on Twitter and vehemently denied making such a report.
Simply put, I never reported this.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 6, 2020
Florio seems fully convinced that Schefter was the first to break the news and even claimed that Steelers representative Ramon Foster and NFLPA spokesman George Atallah "have disputed on Twitter the report from Adam Schefter of ESPN."
NOT TRUE!!!!! NOT TRUE. This is a complicated deal and to say we are rushed to complete a deal is a lie. Whoever told you this lie, don’t trust them around your kids or in your house. https://t.co/31if5FiS1a
— Ramon Foster (@RamonFoster) February 6, 2020
It sure looks like Foster was replying to PFT's story, no? Florio simply has no concrete evidence that Schefter publicized this story, and ever-reliable Twitter investigators quickly came to the ESPN insider's defense.
Sir...Atallah quoted YOUR tweet. Not ESPN or Schefter.
— Marc Opp "Save the Whales" (@OPPmma) February 6, 2020
After Florio (yet again) referenced Schefter's name in the report, he jumped in and put the PFT founder in a body bag.
I'm happy to admit that I erroneously assumed the "rough deadline" report came from Schefter because he had tweeted a link to Graziano's story, but it's flat-out false that the original story didn't report on a "rough deadline" of March 18.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 7, 2020
Let this serve as a warning to all NFL reporters out there that are brash enough to quote Schefter without substantial proof that he broke a certain piece of news.