On Tuesday, ESPN began looking into the relationship between draft guru Mel Kiper and agent Gary Wichard.
On Wednesday, the case was closed, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal.
Why did the investigation end so quickly? One of the reasons may have been Kiper’s machine-gun rattling of the instances where he had a Wichard client rated lower than the Wichard client actually was picked, which we heard on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning. Kiper also defended himself vigorously in an online chat, which was much easier to digest because the information could be gleaned without, you know, having to listen to him speak.
Or maybe ESPN realized that the Sports Illustrated article didn’t actually constitute new information. The Kiper-Wichard connection has been well known for years; ESPN surely has crossed this bridge long before Kiper’s latest contract was signed. It would have been unfair and wrong for ESPN to suddenly wring hands and gnash teeth regarding a relationship of which ESPN has been well aware.
Or maybe ESPN is confident that Kiper hasn’t been corrupted by relationships with Wichard or other agents. Former ESPN producer Fred Gaudelli, who now produces NBC’s Sunday Night Football, contacted us via e-mail today with a first-hand assessment of Kiper’s work.
“I was the Producer or Executive Producer of ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft from 1990 to 2001,” Gaudelli said. “I spoke to Mel Kiper virtually every day from combine time through draft day(s). I knew his thoughts and opinions of the top 50 to 100 players each year and trust me when I tell you he never falsely pumped or promoted any player for any reason.
“Mel’s evaluations were from the tape he studied, team and league personnel he spoke to and whatever time he spoke to the players themselves. To suggest he was pimping for Wichard or any other agent is patently false. Mel never once said, ‘We need to showcase this player, or we should do something extra on this player.’ He would sit back, answer our questions, and analyze whatever it was we wanted analyzed on and off the air.”
Gaudelli explained that, in 11 years, Kiper rarely compromised his views, and only at the behest of ESPN producers.
“My first draft with him was 1990, it became apparent that Jeff George was going to be the first overall pick, Mel didn’t think George was an NFL quarterback,” Gaudelli said. “The night before the show I asked him for his top 40 players so we could identify them graphically. Nowhere in his top 40 did he have Jeff George. When I questioned him about it his reply was something like, ‘I would never draft or sign this guy — ever.’ When I told him we would look a little foolish not having the top overall pick in our top 40, he said, “Fine, put him at 40, but when it comes up I want to say I would never draft this guy.’”
That said, we suggest that Kiper tone it down a bit, lest he be perceived as protesting too much. In today’s chat, for example, Kiper defended his aggressive stance on quarterback Jimmy Clausen (a Wichard client) by saying that “[a]nybody’s opinion of Clausen, whether you like him or not can’t be [a]ffected by how he plays as a rookie.”
We realize that it takes time to fully assess an NFL quarterback. But one of Clausen’s biggest selling points was the fact that he was trained in a pro-style offense and thus ready to hit the ground sprinting. Though his performance this year won’t be on his tombstone, it hardly becomes irrelevant to the overall assessment of the player.
wow, didnt espn learn anything in their humiliating failed spygate investigation?
Clausen sucks. I said it in his ND days, and I am saying it now. He will never amount to more than a borderline starter, bounced from team to team looking for a “quick fix” QB while their star is injured or a rookie is being groomed.
I just find it hilarious that anyone… viewers or ESPN brass would have a problem with conflicts of interest. The network purports to “report” on players/leagues with which it has a vested interested in promoting. Its an organization that makes and breaks news.. and sometimes its own… see Lebron James Circus.
ESPN should have just said we don’t believe the story because anyone Kiper would promote as being a superior player would scare off any GM’s worth their salt. Kiper endores = horrible NFL player.
Florio I told you about this over a year ago…agents pay Kiper and McShay to prop up their client on national t.v. and even use this information when recruiting their college (ahem) declared clients.
It’s old news in the football circles.
Agents ALSO pay the scouts for the NFL teams to prop up their clients to the G.M.’s/Head Coaches of the league to improve their draft position.
Like NFL team personell in war rooms really believe in Kiper’s expert scouting. Didn’t Kiper love Vernon Gholston that went to the Jet’s.
How covenant…..close the “case” on the guy who works for, get this………ESPN!!!!
Mel Kiper is a fraud with really bad hair, he seams pompous. F*ck Kiper!
ESPN is a rag sheet and irrelevant. At one time I was on the site multiple times a day. I can honestly tell you I have not been on their web site for close to four years. They went the tabloid journalism route about that time, and I never went back.
should’ve been saying that about Sanchez… everybody was saying how bad he was last year, in the offseason all these dolphin fans were talking trash… now, you guys have him on your MVP watch video.
Maybe it’s actually the other way around… Maybe Kiper feeds his ‘best players’ to Wichard, and Wichard goes out to sign those that he can, knowing Kiper will promote the heck out of them. Then, when he’s sitting in his office with that client, and Mel calls, he can say “I’m sitting in my office with the best receiver in football”, and Mel can ‘guess’ who that player is… Or maybe their all lying. They are involved in football in one way or another, after all, so they probably lie. Right Mike?
Im sorry, but I actually like Mel, he seems honest and sincere – Hes even good on the radio – I cant be the only one who likes him if this guys been successful for as long as he has.
Wait, wait, wait! Agents are paying college players? How come nobody told me?! What’s next? Professional athletes acting like entitled demi-gods.
No coach or GM in his right mind would listen to Kiper anyway, so what does it all matter?
ESPN also used to utilize Fred Edelstein on their NFL Draft coverage.
(AP, New York). After seeing ESPN rapidly investigate and close the “Kipergate” scandal, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell followed suit.
Stated Roger in a press release today, “We have investigated tirelessly and have determined that BrINT Farve did not violate any portions of the personal conduct, nor any other NFL policies. Case closed.”
There’s a funny story about Kiper getting punked by someone from Minneapolis’ KFAN sports radio station a few years ago. The on air personality wanted to see how Kiper could recall from memory the scouting details of some obscure draft prospect. Problem is, there was no prospect. It was all made up by the radio announcer. So there’s Kiper, live on the air, totally bluffing in his analysis of some football player who never even existed. Obviously, Kiper was said to be pretty pissed about the incident, but I don’t know if he ever offered up some kind of lame explanation for how he got tricked. I can’t find it anywhere on the internet, except for posts from people who heard the show. Phony!!
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Perhaps ESPN would recommend that Mel add a “represented by” column alongside height /weight, school, and 40 time.
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This is just another example of what chasing after money does to people. Come to my magazine’s office and get a load of our head salesperson. She’d chop my balls off and feed them to me for an extra $1,000 in her pocket. No different.
Who was Jimmy Clausen’s agent? That is the dude Kiper is in bed with….. allegedly.
This is not a joke, but is the most interstingly odd thing I’ve ever heard about an ESPN analyst.
Fact: Mel Kiper eats an entire Pumpkin Pie EVERY SINGLE DAY….that is so f*cking weird I can not even wrap my head around it…..
they definately just opened the investigation and closed it within 10 minutes! we will get to the truth soon enough!clausen sucks and he just happens to call the office at just the right time! BS……………
College Football is a $cam, pure and simple. ESPN is in on it, Mel Kiper is in on it, the stupid bowl games in Arizona are in on it, College presidents are in on it, it is all a $cam. Thats right, dollar signs. These guys are supposed to play this violent sport and sacrifice their bodies for what? A scholarship? They don’t care about a degree. Sure they get paid, we know that. But they don’t get a dime from their own image off shirts, jerseys, anything. How is that even legal? That gay black guy in Georgia or wherever got rich for a song about “Hide your kids, hide your wives, hide your husbands.” Because the people who made that song went to him first and gave him a cut. You think Michigan is giving Denard Robinson parts of those million$ he is bringing in? You bet. Its all a $cam.
Breaking news PFT losers: Shawne Merriman goes on IR. Career possibly over with Chargers!
Nice job Florio!
You mean, somebody actually buys Kiper’s crap ?I thought only espn did.
I cant be the only one who likes him if this guys been successful for as long as he has.
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or, he was just the only one doing it.
He’s no longer the end-all be-all of draft analysis (he’s not even the lead dog on the espn set). Mike Mayock is significantly better.
I was at a hot air balloon festival and one of the decorated balloons was in the image of Kipers hair…
Oh yeah, I’m sure ESPN left no stone unturned on this one. About as laughable of a myth investigation as the NFL on Favre.
ESPN is terrible and unwatchable.
Marv Sleazy – completely agree with you. Most animosity towards Kiper is a result of people being envious. He pioneered the field and holds the best position in all of football from fans’ perspectives. That’ll create a lot of jealousy and lot of moronic I-can-do-better attitudes.
You people that call these guys out for missing on prospects should look at your history of misses. I’ve seen enough to know you guys don’t just miss on talent in copious amounts, but also often have no clue as to when a guy should be drafted.
And, I love the analysis on prospects you’ve never seen play. Keep filling out those mock drafts with those big names who’ve yet to make an appearance on your Tivo. Oh, and don’t forget to criticize the GM for not taking the defensive end you wanted in round 2 yet lasts all the way to round 4 or 5.
Okay. Rant over.
Good article Florio.
I wonder if Kiper’s machine-gun rattling of instances provided players drafted at all positions or if it can be correlated to some of the highest-paid positions. I know this is somewhat irrelevant in the composition of the informal rookie wage scale but it still seems like it may play a part.
Either way, Kiper was unusually high on Clausen. He very clearly discussed how Clausen was a better pick than QBs aside from Bradford, and that he would have selected him in the first round, because the first round should exclusively be for players ready to play in their first year.
FrankRyan: “Mel Kiper is a fraud with really bad hair, he seams pompous.”
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I’ve met Kiper in a Sports bar in Baltimore, he was doing an appearance or event or whatever which I wasn’t apart of. He was walking by me and I stuck out my hand to give him a handshake to meet a TV personality, he graciously said Hi back and went on his way. About 10-15 minutes went by and he came back to apologize to me for him having not the time to chat. He sat with my friends for about 5 minutes just talking about the upcoming ’08 draft. I instantly respected that guy. He didn’t owe me or my friends that. He was perfectly nice.
LanMan says:
October 13, 2010 4:18 PM
ESPN is a rag sheet and irrelevant. At one time I was on the site multiple times a day. I can honestly tell you I have not been on their web site for close to four years. They went the tabloid journalism route about that time, and I never went back.
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???? Do know what website this??? Mostly tabloid bullshit. How many Favre stories have there been in the last 3 days here?
If Kiper were so smart, don’t you think a NFL team would have snapped him up and paid him millions for his uncanny insight?
There is a reason that he is still peddling his own brand of BS on ESPN, because it is meaningless drivel and has no impact on real draft experts, it fills airtime and that’s it.
Mel Kiper is a beast and knows more than anyone on ESPN. He studies hard and usually has the right analysis of the player. If it weren’t for Mel there’s no way I would watch the ESPN coverage of the draft. I wish he would go to the NFL network. A Kiper/Mayock draft team would be unstoppable
Mel Kiper is as Legit as it comes to when evaluating NFL players. He’s built his reputation from the top down and created an INDUSTRY when knowbody else was doing it back in the early late 70′s early 80′s. I doubt he’d sell out to agents when he’s already created a trail for dorks like florio and his minions to follow the life of 20 something prospects.
I don’t know, rovibe, that sure sounds
like a story a 13 year-old would make up.
But I have no doubt you aren’t passing it
on without at least SOME effort to verify…
please share
So there is no Quality Assurance done to see if what he states a pick should be drafted at where the career actually goes to see his sucess rate?
Like a lot of people, I prefer Mike Mayock’s draft analyses to Kiper’s. But all those dumping on Kiper should remember he really created the draft-analysis end of the sportscasting business. When my brother was just a kid, he subscribed to Kiper’s annual draft guide, which Mel put together by himself from his house. That was before anyone did draft analysis on TV when Mayock and McShay were still playing pickup ball in their backyards. So at least give the guy some props pioneering the industry.
Hey Florio,
On the one hand you (all of you) call the Panthers the worst offense in the League but on the other hand you use Claussen’s mediocre start as a basis to criticize Kiper. Which one is it? Is the QB supposed to make up for the lack of WRs and Offensive Line or is Mel Kiper talking up players for Wichard? But hypocritical of you, isn’t it?
JimmySmith says:
October 13, 2010 5:17 PM
If Kiper were so smart, don’t you think a NFL team would have snapped him up and paid him millions for his uncanny insight?
There is a reason that he is still peddling his own brand of BS on ESPN, because it is meaningless drivel and has no impact on real draft experts, it fills airtime and that’s it.
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I don’t agree with a lot of his picks (Tyson Alualu comes to mind) but the man is smart enough to have created an empire and he’s one of the reasons the draft has turned into the event it has. He may come across as smug, but NFL fans like him or hate him have to give him that.
If guys like Kiper didn’t come on the scene, do you think the draft would be a 3 day prime time event?
Who cares? His mock drafts are horrible anyway.
Kiper is among the Top 5 biggest tools in the “sports celebrity” world. T O O L B O X !
One of the greatest moments in NFL history was Bob Irsay’s take on Kiper. Whenever I’m feeling down, I watch that video. If Kiper was such a genius, wouldn’t he identify at least a few of the undrafted players that go on to great success…or even ones that make a team, which is a pretty big accomplishment in and of itself. Seriously, what did Mel think of Max Hall? Clearly, he should have been the second QB drafted this year.
The draft as a “3-day prime time event” is horrendously awful!!!
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
lalalalala,
I won’t disagree with you, but the ratings do. I’m sure bars never had higher sales on a Thursday night in April than last year.
Say what you will, but Mel was DEAD ON about Jeff George…and that was a pretty ballsy stand re: the #1 overall pick. No one can bat 100% in this game. I think Mel does a pretty damned good job, and you have to love his dedication, knowledge and passion. Not one other so called draft guru matches him on that.
…but he should cut his hair & take a valium…
@lalalalala
If you’re not interested in the draft, why are you even commenting on this thread? Isn’t there a monster truckfest or cartoon marathon you could be watching? Most of the people on PFT are serious football fans. Talk about a descriptive handle.
An “investigation” that only lasted 17 hours.
You’re on your way to the FBI Bristol deputies!!!!
Like a few others on here, I prefer Mayock to anyone else except maybe Corey Chavous who is also really good.
On Mel, he does come off to me as being a decent and sincere person whether I agree with him or not. I don’ believe he was or is doing anything wrong.
Buchsbaum is the real pioneer though.
As for any of them influencing scouts or people in the draft rooms of teams, any scout/GM, personnel guy worth their salt would do their own homework and consider their opinions as merely other things to take into consideration based on their knowledge level.