Fooch's Note: Don't forget to swing back throughout the evening and into the weekend for all of our 2012 NFL Draft coverage.
The NFL Draft is at hand today, so I thought I'd put together a quick rundown of the pertinent television information. There is a whole lot of coverage of the draft. I prefer the NFL Network, but there is still some quality stuff to be seen on ESPN if that is more your speed. On a side note, big thanks to wjackalope for putting together this year's NN draft logo. It is always a fun look and something unique for the site.
The Draft gets going this afternoon at 5:00pm PT with the first round. Day two of the draft features the second and third rounds and gets going at 4:00pm PT. Day three features the fourth through seventh rounds and gets going at 9:00am PT. Teams will have ten minutes to make their first round selections. They will then have seven minutes in the second round and five minutes in the remaining five rounds.
This is my first significant event where I won't be able to take advantage of pacific time. I'm out in New York this week, which means an 8:00pm ET start, and a nice late evening. I won't actually be in attendance at the draft tonight or tomorrow, but hopefully will be around on Saturday when it's only the diehards.
The 49ers will be having their annual draft party in Santa Clara. I've posted the pertinent television information after the jump. In the meantime, what is your plan for the draft? Will you be bunkered down in your own personal war room with some pizza, beer and not much else? Or do you go to a bar to enjoy the draft?
NFL Network's coverage will feature Rich Eisen anchoring all three days of coverage, with Mike Mayock operating as his primary analyst. Of course, the Network will have plenty more people involved both at Radio City Music Hall and around the country. At the site of the draft, we'll see Brian Billick, Charles Davis, Marshall Faulk, Jay Glazer, Michael Irvin, Jason La Canfora, Michael Lombardi, Steve Mariucci, LSU head coach Les Miles (guest analyst), Deion Sanders, Stanford head coach David Shaw (guest analyst) and Melissa Stark.
The NFL Network will have the following people at different team locations around the country:
- Albert Breer (Indianapolis Colts)
- Jeff Darlington (Miami Dolphins)
- Kim Jones (New York Jets)
- Ian Rapoport (Dallas Cowboys)
- Steve Wyche (Washington Redskins)
- Ari Wolfe (Minnesota Vikings)
- Solomon Wilcots (Cleveland Browns)
- Brian Baldinger (Philadelphia Eagles)
- Michelle Beisner (Denver Broncos team party)
- Stacey Dales (New England Patriots team party)
ESPN will have their own extensive coverage at Radio City Music Hall and around the country at team locations as well. Chris Berman will once again anchor their coverage from NYC and will be joined by ESPN's stable of analysts including Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay, Jon Gruden, Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter, and Suzy Kolber.
ESPN will have additional coverage from Bristol, with Trey Wingo operating as the initial host. He will be joined by ts Tedy Bruschi, Herm Edwards and ESPN Scouts Inc. director of college scouting Todd McShay. At 4:30 p.m. on day two, MNF’s Mike Tirico assumes host duties in Bristol with analysts Cris Carter, Trent Dilfer, Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski, Keyshawn Johnson, Steve Young and McShay.
Day 3 coverage will begin Saturday, April 30 at 10 a.m. on ESPN with a two-hour SportsCenter Special: On the Clock followed by all eight hours (12-8 p.m.) of Rounds 4-7 with Wingo hosting from Radio City with Kiper, Trent Dilfer, McShay, Mortensen and Schefter. Kolber will co-host from Bristol with Bruschi, Edwards and Jaworski.
ESPN will have reporters at team sites across the country, including: Colleen Dominguez (Arizona Cardinals),Bob Holtzman (Cincinnati Bengals), Sal Paolantonio (Carolina Panthers), Mark Schwarz (Washington), Michael Smith (New England Patriots) and Ed Werder (Denver Broncos). Jeremy Schaap will cover events hosted by the NFL Players Association during Draft weekend.