“No, they’re questioning his objectivity,” Dan Le Batard said when a panelist described doubts about Adam Schefter’s motivations.
On the October 13 edition of The Dan Le Batard Show, Le Batard linked that skepticism to the earlier “Mr. Editor” controversy involving Schefter and former Washington executive Bruce Allen. The subject arose as the panel discussed Schefter’s reporting about Marvin Harrison Jr.’s departure from Arizona.
“They think he’s compromised because of the Mr. Editor thing that came out,” Le Batard said, referring to Schefter sending Allen a story before publication.
In 2011, Schefter sent Allen an unpublished story about the NFL lockout. When the exchange became public in 2021, Schefter acknowledged that sending the story was a mistake but denied giving away editorial control. A University of Texas case study records both the exchange and his response.
Le Batard said that history helped explain why people suspected Schefter’s initial Harrison report of serving Arizona’s interests. The questions concerned whether reporting an impending trade without naming a destination helped the Cardinals gain leverage.
He said he believed Schefter’s explanation that the destination had not yet been settled.
“The only news he had at the time was that Marvin Harrison had been sent home, told he wasn’t playing in the game, and was going to be traded. So he didn’t report the team,” Le Batard said, recounting that explanation.
He suggested the information could have come from an agent who knew the player had been sent home but did not have confirmation from either team. Le Batard did not identify a source disclosed by Schefter.
“So the agent only knows information up to a point, and that’s what’s being shared in that instance,” he said.
Arizona’s October 12 announcement listed Harrison and a 2027 sixth-round pick going to Houston, with the Cardinals receiving second- and seventh-round picks in 2027. Those terms differed from the preliminary package mentioned during the show.
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Cover photograph: All-Pro Reels / Joe Glorioso, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Archival photograph from November 14, 2022; resized for display.
