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Kyler Murray report has NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly facing criticism

“I think it’s disgusting and embarrassing and Casserly should be ashamed of himself,” said Erik Burkhard, Murray's agent.

NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly (left) is taking heat for a report about the leadership skills of top NFL prospect Kyler Murray.
NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly (left) is taking heat for a report about the leadership skills of top NFL prospect Kyler Murray.Read moreNFL Network / AP Photo / NFL Network / AP Photo

Charley Casserly spent three decades in the NFL as a scout and general manager for several teams, and has been an analyst on the NFL Network since 2008. He’s also called a handful of Eagles preseason games over the years.

But this week, Casserly has drawn intense criticism after reporting anonymous opinions out of the NFL Scouting Combine about Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray, considered one of the top prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Erik Burkhard, Murray’s agent, told ProFootballTalk on Wednesday he thought Casserly was an “agenda-driven ‘analyst’ ” who never spoke to Murray or any of his coaches or teammates. He also called Casserly’s comments about Murray’s character and work ethic “slander.”

“I think it’s disgusting and embarrassing and Casserly should be ashamed of himself,” Burkhard said.

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley also spoke out to defend his quarterback, criticizing Casserly for commenting on Murray’s leadership without speaking to anyone on the team.

“You’re going to go on TV and talk like you’re an expert about somebody that you’ve never met. You’ve never talked to his position coach or head coach at any level about him, and you haven’t talked to any player that’s played with the guy [about] how he leads,” Riley said. “But now you’re going to be an expert on how he leads.”

The NFL Network did not respond to a request for comment. Casserly isn’t backing down from his report. On Wednesday, he called into The Rich Eisen Show and doubled-down on his criticism of Murray, calling the young quarterback’s interview answers “absolutely off the wall.”

“My report is from three teams or more, more than two, of what their impression was during a 15-minute interview. That’s what I repeated,” Casserly said. “These three people were not smoke-screening me. That’s all I can tell you.”

The report has been widely discussed in sports media circles for the past few days, with everyone from ESPN’s Bomani Jones to syndicated talk show host Dan Patrick offering their thoughts on Casserly’s comments. But the most outspoken critic has been ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, who has written several posts analyzing Casserly’s comments and suggesting a possible motive on behalf of the New York Jets.

But several reporters and analysts have also come to Casserly’s defense, saying they had heard some of the same comments about Murray’s interviews.

“That’s fairly accurate,” one unnamed NFL coach told NJ Advance Media’s Matt Lombardo about Casserly’s report. “Maybe not to that extreme. It might be a little overblown, but there’s definitely some truth there.”

“So Charlie Casserly relays info on Murray that isn’t part of the hype train — info he was told — and now he’s vilified. Wow,” CBS NFL columnist Pete Prisco wrote on Twitter.

Schefter speaks for first time about his bombshell bust

Maybe he could have worded it differently.

That was the admission by ESPN’s popular news breaker Adam Schefter during an appearance this week on the Pardon My Take podcast, speaking about his bombshell report that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wouldn’t be the biggest name to get caught up in a South Florida prostitution sting.

So far, Shefter’s report — which was picked up widely in the media but not included in ESPN’s own story about Kraft’s charges — has yet to be borne out. Florida prosecutors have called the report a false rumor.

“Maybe I should have framed it a little differently because the story took on a life of its own,” Schefter admitted. “I just should’ve said, ‘There are people down there telling me.’ ”

Schefter was quick to point out there were other prominent individuals charged as part of the prostitution sting. One such person was John Havens, the former Citigroup president and a Haverford native. Another was John Childs, the founder of investing firm J.W. Childs, which backs Philly-based motorcycle apparel brand RevZilla.

But their public profiles pale in comparison to Kraft, who owns one of the NFL’s most successful franchises.

“Now, there are people who tell you things. They sometimes come to be and sometimes don’t,” Schefter said.

Kraft faces two first-degree misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in a strip mall in Jupiter, Fla.

Quick hits

ESPN’s beef with The Ringer’s Bill Simmons goes back a few years, but appearing to edit him out of his own interview with NBA commissioner Adam Silver still seems particularly silly.

“There is absolutely nothing to this. It’s a non-story. We ran clips of Adam Silver with Bill Simmons on ESPN shows/platforms," ESPN said in a statement to The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch. They also sent a screenshot with Simmons present.

The Sixers’ disappointing 108-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday was featured on ESPN. It also aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia, where Ben Simmons hammed it up a bit ahead of the game behind Sixers announcers Marc Zumoff and Alaa Abdelnaby.

• Speaking of the Sixers, the team drew 3.63 million viewers on ABC Saturday night during the team’s prime time loss to the Golden State Warriors. According to Sports Media Watch, that’s a 14 percent increase over last year (Celtics-Rockets) and a whopping 117 percent increase over 2017 (Clippers-Bulls).