The ESPN report on players wanting to play for Commanders makes no mention of Bob Myers working for ESPN

An early edition on Saturday Sunday spritz! Article landed by ESPN.

Citing unnamed sources, Adam Schefter's article explained that these were unnamed players want to be sold to the commanders. Here's the key sentence: “In recent weeks, there have been players who privately stated or told their agents that they wanted to be traded to the Commanders, league sources told ESPN.”

OK, so how many? Two would technically be enough to make this statement true.

An executive from another team asked PFT, “Doesn’t this seem like a strange article?”

It's definitely unusual. Why is there no report of players wanting to be transferred to the 7-0 Chiefs? Or the 6-1 Lions? And while I may not remember it, I can't recall many (or any) instances where a report popped up in the final days of the trade deadline in a previous year that players were being traded to a particular team for this reason wanted the team itself.

Typically, a player wants to move from a non-contender to any contender. Sometimes a player wants to be reunited with a teammate or a coach. Rarely, if ever, do one or more players want to go to a specific team in a given trade cycle.

The report's deeper purpose arguably lies in this line: “But even if the Commanders can't make a trade by the deadline, the fact that certain players would like to land in Washington bodes well for the franchise in free agency and down the years.” ,” league sources told ESPN.

Analyze this sentence. League sources said unnamed players' desire to be traded to the Commanders is “a good sign for the franchise”? That's not a fact, it's an opinion. And it's not the kind of opinion that should benefit from anonymous sourcing. That's true in this case for a very important reason.

Except that this is a prime example of that consideration Due to his behavior keeping Schefter at the front of the line five minutes before the announcement of text messages about Washington-related transactions, the article is missing an important disclaimer. Bob Myers, a former NBA executive who was instrumental in trying to save the previously struggling franchise, works for ESPN.

Whether Myers' employment at the same company that employs Schefter had anything to do with Schefter's Commanders advertising being passed off as actual news coverage is one thing. The fact that Myers and Schefter both work for ESPN is another.

This fact should have been disclosed. And that wasn't it.