ESPN NFL analyst reveals truth about thin-skinned executives

Prominent sports figures often act as if they are immune to coverage of them in the media, despite today’s minute to minute online news cycle making that nearly impossible. Still, there are levels to how a famous NFL athlete or NBA coach might expose themselves to criticism or praise. And ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes believes it’s far more prevalent even among the greatest competitors in sports than most fans realize.

Kimes is among ESPN’s top voices on the NFL on the network’s daily NFL Live studio show as well as her popular podcast, The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny . While Kimes acknowledged players may be more likely to see generalist content like First Take while executives consume more football-specific content, she made it clear that more often than not, NFL decision makers are paying attention to the chatter.

“I would say like 9 to 1 is the ratio of guys I’ve encountered who are aware of some of it,” Kimes said on a recent episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out . “It is far more the exception that anyone, athlete, player or executive or coach, is not seeing it.”

Kimes added that even a proven track record of NFL success does not insulate people in the league from keeping an ear to the ground.

“My experience is it does not correlate with success or intelligence,” she said. “There are a lot of very successful people in football who are very online, or pay attention to people who I’m shocked they care about their opinions. I don’t think it has anything to do with reaching a certain mountaintop, I think different people are just built differently.”

Rather, Kimes boiled down the differentiator to personality. Some people want to see the positive and negative coverage they receive, while others truly are immune to it and uninterested.

“There are very successful GMs who I know for a fact see everything and read everything, and there are ones who don’t,” Kimes said. “I don’t think you can paint a broad brush when you talk about why people care about others’ opinions or why they’re dialed in. I really think some people just have different psychological makeups that make them more curious.”

Kimes said at Indianapolis for the NFL Draft Combine or at different league events, she regularly will be called out for the criticism she has doled out. League figures meet her and instantly recall times in which she had something bad to say.

Even beyond her own analysis, Kimes said she has been shocked to hear from NFL leaders who stoop so low as to care about local radio or non-NFL experts across sports media.

“It really is, different people in the sports world care about different voices,” Kimes said. “There are a lot of guys who we would respect or hold in pretty high esteem who are very online, and I know that just personally, because I’ve been shocked by it as well.”

While fans mock Kevin Durant and others for engaging with their detractors and trolls , many people in sports are just the same. Even in the NFL, where money flows and fame is easy to come by, Kimes sees pride take over among even the greatest at their craft.

[ Pablo Torre Finds Out on YouTube ]

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