It’s Draft Day everyone, so say it with me: “Vontae Mack no matter what!”

The NFL Draft is an event that generates so much content each year. From mock drafts on websites, to prospect breakdowns on TV to reactions to all of it on radio, every sector of the sports media finds a way to mine cume and TSL from their fans’ curiosity. Why should’t we take advantage of the draft fever?

Now, you don’t expect prospect evaluations from Barrett Sports Media. We are a media website after all.

Instead of reaching out to Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, and others, I took a look at the draft board and thought about something more in keeping with sports radio.

I reached out to 32 hosts, each representing an NFL team, and asked them to draft their favorite guests. To keep it simple, we went in original draft order, so forget any trades made before, during, or after the season. The only rule is that the guest had to have appeared on their show at least once. Here’s the draft order.

1. David Kaplan – ESPN Chicago
2. Ron Hughley – Sports Radio 610 in Houston
3. Dave Burns – Arizona Sports
4. JMV – 107.5 The Fan in Indianapolis
5. Zach Bye – 104.3 The Fan in Denver
6. Scott Kaplan – ESPN LA
7. Steve Cofield – ESPN Las Vegas
8. Chuck Oliver – 680 The Fan in Atlanta
9. Joe Ovies – 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh (Panthers)
10. T-Bob Hebert – 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge (Saints)
11. Brent Dougherty – 104.5 The Zone in Nashville
12. Nick Wilson – 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland
13. Gregg Giannotti – WFAN in New York
14. Rich Shertenlieb – 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston
15. Mike Heller – 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee (Packers)
16. Grant Paulsen – 106.7 The Fan in DC
17. Andrew Filliponi – 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh
18. Rico Beard – 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit
19. Jay Recher – WDAE in Tampa
20. Stacy Rost – Seattle Sports 710
21. Brendan Tobin – WQAM in Miami
22. Fred Roggin – AM 570 LA Sports
23. Jason La Canfora – 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore
24. Judd Zulgad – SKOR North in Minneapolis
25. Mia O’Brien – 1010XL in Jacksonville
26. Dave Rothenberg – ESPN New York
27. Shan Shariff – 105.3 The Fan in Dallas
28. Jeremy White – WGR in Buffalo
29. Mo Egger – ESPN 1530 in Cincinnati
30. John Lund – KNBR in San Francisco
31. Anthony Gargano – 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia
32. Jason Anderson – 810 WHB in Kansas City

It was an extended process of screenshots and text messages. Here are the results.

I asked select participants to explain their picks to me. Here is some of what they had to say.

1. DAVID KAPLAN ON CHARLES BARKLEY – “The best guest there is!”

3. DAVE BURNS ON KEYSHAWN JOHNSON – “Key is always a blast to have on the show, mostly because he’s very willing to mix it up with the both of us. Our audience might not like what he has to say all the time, but it’s great conversation and he’s good for a legit three or four genuine laughs out of us every time he’s on.”

7. STEVE COFIELD ON DANA WHITE – “He hates me. Hates my cohost even more. But he comes 3-4x a year! And he is one our local ‘stars'”

14. RICH SHERTENLIEB ON JIM GRAY – “Jim Gray is the most humble, even-keeled, and self-deprecating guest ever to grace our airwaves. He knows Tom (Brady), Oprah knows Tom, Stedman knows Tom, Oprah knows his wife, they’re all friends, so why not have a dinner?” (EDITOR’S NOTE: click here.)

20. STACY ROST ON MINA KIMES FALLING TO HER – “All these men making picks. SMH.”

25. MIA O’BRIEN ON PETER SCHRAEGER – “Very hard to find someone who can both be a ‘news breaker’ and a quality host. When you throw in his ability to provide comedic and light-hearted relief and hijinks, Schrager is a true rarity in the sports media landscape right now. Combine that with the fact that he is everywhere — in print, on podcasts, and of course GMFB. Has expanded his repertoire to also include analyst work with FOX. I was also tempted to go with his GMFB alum Nate Burleson, but it’s Mock Draft SZN and also Schrager is from Freehold Township like me. Also, Ian Eagle was taken.”

26. DAVE ROTHENBERG ON MEL KIPER – “Tremendous value for me!”

Look up and down the list. We covered all four of the major American professional sports leagues plus MMA, wrestling, college football and college basketball the general weirdness of Bill Walton. That is some range and there are so many great names left to be signed as free agents! I was shocked that no one picked Bomani Jones, Joel Klatt, Greg Olsen, Dan Orlovsky, David Pollack, Chris Russo, Marcus Spears, or Stugotz.

Also, it is hard not to notice how many fellow media members were taken. Only one active player and one active coach were selected. We also had one league owner (I guess that’s what you call Dana White), one team owner, Ric Flair, and a dead guy.

I hope you enjoyed the first-ever Sports Radio Guest Draft. Let us know in the comments who you would have taken.

Dan Le Batard is not happy with his staff. On his show Tuesday, he addressed something that happened on an episode of Mystery Crate, Meadowlark Media’s podcast that puts a spotlight on the producers and technical staff behind their shows.

“I want to bring yet more attention to something that not everyone has seen, that embarrassed me but I want to offer an apology to the audience today that happened on Mystery Crate recently,” Le Batard said.

During Mystery Crate, a producer addressed audience complaints about Meadowlark Media content not coming out when promised. She told the audience to “shut up” because the staff is producing a lot of content all of the time.

“I’m embarrassed by someone telling our customers to shut up about their complaints when I value their complaints, when their passion is what funds us,” Le Batard said promising his listeners that they are very important to him and he will make sure everyone on the Meadowlark payroll knows it.

“It will not happen again. I will make sure it does not happen again. Everyone here will be told not to tell the listeners to shut up when their complaints have been earned.”

There was a time when draft night, no matter the sport, meant that we were gathering the sports media for a similar exercise here at Barrett Sports Media. Between the pandemic, a changing focus, and more work than we could have anticipated when this business was launched, that tradition fell unfortunately by the wayside.

Today though, I am bringing it back. I asked 30 established stars in the sports media world to join me in determining who is next. This is the Barrett Sports Media Next Big Thing Draft. Just like the NBA, we have an age limit. The difference is theirs is at the low end and ours is at the high end.

We have long discussed the 40s being the decade where most people in this business are established and make the bulk of their money. So, I set 40 as the top end.

Now, sure, there are plenty of names under 40 that are already established stars. They are fair game. They are already their networks’ franchise players. They can be the same for the theoretical teams we are forming.

So, in order of their picks (which were drawn at random), here are the TV, radio, and digital stars that agreed to be a part of the draft.

1. Steve Levy (ESPN)
2. Paul Finebaum (ESPN/SEC Network)
3. Doug Gottlieb (FOX Sports)
4. Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN)
5. Gregg Giannotti (WFAN)
6. Tim Brando (FOX Sports)
7. Wes Durham (ACC Network)
8. Bomani Jones (ESPN/HBO)
9. Gary Parrish (CBS Sports)
10. Linda Cohn (ESPN)
11. Stugotz (Meadowlark Media)
12. Damon Bruce (95.7 The Game)
13. Chris Broussard (FOX Sports)
14. Freddie Coleman (ESPN Radio)
15. Ric Bucher (FOX Sports)
16. Petros Papadakis (FOX Sports)
17. Michael Eaves (ESPN)
18. Jason Smith (FOX Sports)
19. John Kincade (97.5 The Fanatic)
20. Rob Parker (FOX Sports)
21. Adnan Virk (DAZN/Meadowlark Media)
22. Damon Amendolara (CBS Sports Radio)
23. Danny Parkins (670 The Score)
24. Mike Florio (Pro Football Talk)
25. Chris Carlin (ESPN New York)
26. Carl Dukes (92.9 The Game)
27. Jason Fitz (ESPN)
28. Adam Schein (SiriusXM/CBS Sports)
29. Dave Dameshek (Extra Points)
30. Arash Markazi (WWENXT)

This took a lot of time and effort to put together, but we got it done. Here is how the draft went.

Here are a few observations from the 2021 Next Big Thing Draft.

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE – The first three picks were all women. Half of the top ten were women. Whether it is TV or podcasting, some of the brightest up and coming stars in our industry are women and that is a good thing.

BRAND LOYALTY – It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but look at how many people chose up-and-coming stars at their own networks. Is that about job security and being a company man? Maybe, but look at Paul Finebaum choosing Laura Rutledge or Kirk Herbstreit choosing Pat McAfee or even Stugotz choosing Billy Gill. These people get to see their choices face to face with some regularity. I think it speaks to being able to recognize talent when you see it.

DAMON BRUCE KNOWS THE GAME – Bruce asked me to call him so he could make his pick over the phone. He wanted it to be clear. It was a crime that Shams Charania and his 1.2 million social media followers were still on the board at number eleven. “I want everyone to know how much they f***ed things up,” he told me.

A BIG IMPRESSION – I loved the story Jason Smith told me about why he took the versatile Morosi with the 18th pick. “When he comes on my show he likes to use Italian phrases (you know, him being Italian and all), so one time I challenged him that some time in the next week he had to do a media interview entirely in Italian and not explain why he was speaking Italian to the hosts. And he had to post it. Three days later he puts the interview on Twitter, and @’s me on it: It was a baseball interview he did with a TV station…wait for it…wait for it…in Italy. 3,000 miles and an early call time to win a dare. Well played, Jon-Paul.”

THE FREE AGENT MARKET – These people all went undrafted: Jason Bennetti, Big Cat, Domonique Foxworth, Mike Golic Jr, Cassidy Hubbarth, Mina Kimes, Joel Klatt, Katie Nolan, Danny Parkins, PFT Commenter, Brady Quinn, Taylor Rooks, Marcus Spears, and Joy Taylor. Some network or digital platform could build a hell of a roster with this draft’s leftovers. You could really see this playing out with the final picks. “I had 4 or 5 can’t miss picks that are already off the board,” Jason Fitz told me before he proceeded to waffle between three potential candidates for the 27th pick.