NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport Criticizes Florida Football, Johnny Manziel Docs: ‘Not Enough Perspective’ (Exclusive)

In the wake of buzzy football documentaries centered on Johnny Manziel and the University of Florida, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport argued it takes far more than interesting subject matter to make a successful final product.

Rapoport is featured in NFL Draft: The Pick Is In — available to stream now on the Roku Channel — which peels back the curtain on the Network's coverage of the 2023 Draft in Kansas City. It also features unprecedented access into the war rooms of teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers.

As the network's national NFL insider, Rapoport was excited to give viewers a glimpse into what's become one of the biggest — and most unpredictable —events on the sports calendar.

"I love the Draft and I want people to know why I love it so much," Rapoport exclusively told The Messenger. "I think that was really it, because you get to know all the information. I spend weeks and weeks on the phone with everyone involved, from prospects and agents and GMs and talent evaluators and everyone in between. And then the Draft starts and you really don't know anything."

However, in discussing Netflix's recently-released Untold entries Johnny Football, about Manziel, and Swamp Kings, about Urban Meyer's run at Florida, Rapoport argued both documentaries were a little too sugarcoated for his taste.

"I don't feel like we got the real Johnny Manziel story," Rapoport said. "I don't feel like we got the real Florida Gators story. I was covering the SEC at that time. It wasn't like that. Florida was good as a football team, but there was a lot of stuff."

Rapoport found things to be particularly disappointing because, despite many of the pieces of the puzzle being in place, they failed to capitalize on the opportunities.

"There's just not enough perspective," he continued. "There's not enough behind the scenes or not enough inside. So much got left unspoken on the Johnny Manziel thing. There was good access, but it's about more than getting good access to whoever the biggest name is. As a reporter, that was a little frustrating."

Fortunately, Rapoport found the exact opposite to be true with The Pick Is In.

"I was blown away by how good this was," he gushed. "I was watching and I'm like, 'This is what it should be like. This is what it should be.' So many different voices, so much perspective, real, true behind the scenes."

While the 2023 Draft was noteworthy for the selections of players like Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson at the top of the board, it was just as memorable for the slide of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, who dropped all the way to the second round after some analysts projected him as a Top 5 pick.

As Levis and his family sat in the Draft green room, his agonizing wait played out for the cameras.

"It's a fine line between making sure that you tell people and, even more importantly, show people the most pertinent storyline at the time," Rapoport said, "while making sure that you understand that this is a human."

At one point in The Pick Is In, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell laments that Levis had become the focus of the television coverage across multiple networks, but Rapoport contended they were making the best of a tricky scenario.

"I thought we did an incredible job of not harping on it too much," he said, "but making sure that you tell people, 'Here's what's going on with the most important storyline.'"

The Pick Is In culminates with the Cowboys' selection of Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn in the sixth round. Vaughn's selection was kept a secret from his father Chris, the Cowboys' assistant director of college scouting, who becomes overwhelmed emotionally when made aware of the pick.

"The Deuce Vaughn stuff was so, so cool," Rapoport shared. "The moment of recognition like, 'Oh my God, the Cowboys are going to be the ones to take him.' That was awesome. That's kind of what this is all about, when you give a player a future and his family gets to share it. It's the best feeling ever."

NFL Draft: The Pick Is In is available to stream on the Roku Channel.