National Football League

From babies to fashion, Mike Francesa eviscerates everything about the NFL Draft

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, Jimmy Traina/Sports Illustrated via Extra Mustard

Mike Francesa was not a fan of Round 1 of the NFL Draft.

The WFAN radio host blasted numerous things about the event during the open of his Friday show.

The man known as the Sports Pope is anti-social media and does not have accounts on any of the services. He finally discovered on Thursday that picks leak out on Twitter before they air on TV.

Two minutes into the start of his show, this is what he said about the NFL:

"They completely took all power and all prestige away from their TV partners because they completely ruined it from their standpoint. The picks were showing up on social media before they even were coming out on TV. I never saw a draft ever where the TV networks were behind picks."

OK, that's been going on for years, but Francesa was just getting warmed up. He then said the scene with Roger Goodell embracing the boos from the Philadelphia fans was "embarrassing" and mocked the NFL over No. 1 pick Myles Garrett not even showing up. That was just the appetizer. The main course followed, with Francesa ripping the players who were drafted. Broncos offensive lineman Garrett Boles was Francesa's first target, saying:

"Who decided that we were using props as these guys come forward? Nice story with your grandmother, from the kid from UCLA, who went to the Falcons, but, I mean, was he kidding? With his cursing? With his tirade? I mean, was he serious last night? I thought I was watching wrestling. Then you get the guy with his baby, I mean holding up his baby like it’s the Lion King. I mean, what are we doing? They’ve lost control of this event. What is your son doing there. He’s about 2-days old. What his he doing there?"

The rant continued about the NFL Network's coverage and interviewer Deion Sanders.

“Some of these players have really wonderful stories," Francesa said. "Others, all they wanna do with Deion Sanders, it’s a fashion show. “Tell me about your outfit.” These are football players. Tell me about your outfit? What is this, the red carpet? Is this the Academy Awards? Are we talking about a linebacker or we talking about Gwyneth Paltrow?"

Last but not least, Francesa took issue with Takk McKinley's attitude. Here's what he said about the Falcons first-round pick:

"Then you got the guy who I thought was gonna punch somebody, who was up there with the picture of his grandma. I mean, he looked like he was gonna fight somebody on his way up there. He was seething. He looked like a wrestler before he decided to level the entire place with is profanity. I mean, three-ring circus is what I’m watching. To me, it seemed like it was wrestling. The NFL has gotten more bizarre with this stuff. It’s a circus."

Frances was also disgusted about how off-the-field issues players may or may not have dominated the post-pick analysis, ranted about lie-detector tests and got worked up about Florid St. running back Dalvin Cook falling off the first round.

It was a virtuoso performance.