NFL broadcasters get the opportunity to speak with and look into young players before fans ever get to see them perform on the field. And Chris Myers of Fox Sports detailed why he knew a pair of quarterbacks would have long and successful careers.
Myers has met with and studied his fair share of quarterbacks over the years, working with Fox Sports on NFL coverage since 1998.
He took some time to speak with Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing recently, where he detailed that he knew right away from meetings early on that Peyton Manning would be a special talent.
“I go as far back as Peyton Manning,” Myers told Contes in a recent episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast. “It wasn’t actually calling his games. It was in meetings early, he stood out.”
Myers added that he felt the same way about current Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, even though he wasn’t a top draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks going into his rookie season.
“Russell Wilson, who wasn’t a high draft pick obviously, but won the job. When you sat down with him and called quite a few of his games in his rookie season with Seattle, you just knew he had something in the way that he spoke.”
He then referenced a player like Jared Goff, who he wasn’t exactly sold on right away due to his far less charismatic personality.
“There are some guys, you know, Jared Goff, for example, right, that are shy. And they’re not rude, they’re just not as open, their personality, maybe they’re a little more introverted, at least with us. So you can’t get as much of a read, but you know they take their craft seriously.”
Myers then finally added that there are some players that he had a good idea about potentially not living up to some of the hype that many had placed on them.
“And then some guys, you know, I don’t want to necessarily name names. But, you know, you’re almost like, I don’t know if that guy has it. Often you get an early read that maybe this guy isn’t cut out to be the main man.”
Given Myers’ lengthy tenure around the game of football as a broadcaster, it is pretty safe to say that he has developed a good eye for talent.
[Awful Announcing Podcast]