Call Pat McAfee Rodney Dangerfield, because he "don't get no respect."
Following a visit to Indianapolis to cover the NFL scouting combine, McAfee returned to his regular programming to announce that he will not be doing his annual "Draft Spectacular" show in Green Bay next month amid the NFL draft.
McAfee said that he had difficulty dealing with middle management at the combine and that they made it difficult for him to broadcast from the event.
But he made it clear on the "Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday that him choosing to boycott the draft has less to do with how he felt treated at the combine and more so with how he feels the league treats him at-large.
"I do appreciate that becoming a massive story on the internet," McAfee said Thursday. "Because I was just kinda telling our people, like, ‘Hey, we're not going.' And then I'm being very transparent about the reason why."
"It doesn't sound like you're going to the draft"
I was just letting our people know @JJWatt#PMSLivepic.twitter.com/Zb9dPYyP8O
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 6, 2025
McAfee was dissatisfied with the reasoning behind a report by Front Office Sports that said he wasn't attending the draft because of "insufficient respect" he felt by middle managers at the combine.
He said that he's received criticism for being "entitled" because of it.
"It's not just the insufficient respect – which I've never said in my life – at the combine," McAfee insisted. "It's basically the overall relationship. People don't know, I have paid the NFL millions and millions of dollars for years, so that I can get rights and social media rights and digital rights for highlights and plays for our show."
Three years ago, McAfee disclosed publicly that he was paying the NFL over $4 million for the right to air game highlights all while the league told him he was not permitted to use their logos on screen graphics.
"I have had a business partnership with the NFL, both through the NFL Films and the NFL for years and years and years," McAfee said. "But nobody has told these middle managers, ‘Hey, just cause he's younger than you and you think he's a (expletive) doesn't mean…' Combine was the most ridiculous.
"But it's not just the combine. It is a totality of this thing. So I don't appreciate it being reported as ‘insufficient respect at the combine.' It's like, insufficient respect throughout all of this sh*t is the reason, including the draft."
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This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 9:18 PM.