With the bulk of drills set to take place over the weekend, the most exciting thing to happen at the NFL Combine might be the dumbest thing imaginable. On Wednesday a chance encounter between FOX’s Jordan Schultz, and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport at an Indianapolis Starbucks led to the saddest public beef possible, over the stupidest thing imaginable.
It all kicked off this week when Shultz reported a clandestine meeting took place between Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford in Montana, indicating the talk was about whether or not the Rams’ QB would accept a trade to the Raiders.
Sources: #Raiders minority owner Tom Brady recently hosted #Rams QB Matthew Stafford at his home in Montana, where they spent time together and went skiing. Brady has been actively trying to convince Stafford to join the Raiders, and discussions are ongoing.
It appears Rapoport saw this report and went about vetting the information, which is, yanno … what a reporter does. Roughly an hour after Shultz’s tweet, Rap seemed to contradict the scoop.
#Raiders minority owner Tom Brady and #Rams QB Matthew Stafford ran into each other at a ski resort in Montana, sources say.
The meeting, unplanned, was not extensive or in-depth and did not include Brady “hosting” or “recruiting” Stafford, despite reports saying otherwise. pic.twitter.com/eUucyxzxsW
There’s definitely a little salt on this when Rap makes a point of saying it did not include “hosting” or “recruiting,” which is exactly what Schultz said happened. So basically we have two reports placing two people in the same place at the same time, but differing in what actually went down.
Now, the adult thing to do would be saying to yourself: “That’s fine, I trust my sources,” and leave it at that. For some reason Schultz really got upset that Rapoport seemingly corrected him, and fired back — 16 minutes after Rapoport’s tweet.
If you really think Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford just happened to run into each other at a ski resort in Montana — of all places — at the exact same time, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
They were together over the weekend —it happened. Multiple teams are interested in… https://t.co/5UiU4lVoal
It’s here things got much, much stupider. Media members, agents, and league-adjacent people are staying at the Marriott in Indianapolis, with it being the media hotel for the combine. Schultz and Rapoport were in the lobby Starbucks at the same time, and Schultz decided to take it out of the dirt sheetd and into the streets.
Schultz: “We need to talk.” Rapoport: “No, we don’t.” [Shultz starts accusing Rapoport of something, then gets in his face] Schultz: “If you have anything to say it to me, say it to my f****** face. If this continues we’re going to have a f****** problem.” [Rapoport asks Schultz to step back] Schultz: “If this happens again, we’re gonna have f****** problem. Now I’ll step back.”
This is a whole lot of ire over a conflicting report about a a meeting in Montana, but c’est la vie. It’s also especially funny that this happened in a Starbucks, because Schultz is the son of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Evidently Rapoport contacted NFL Security about the incident, who are currently looking into the beef in the Starbucks. Now, less than 24 hours removed from the incident we’e got Adam Schefter making jokes.
When it comes to who’s in the wrong, I don’t know. What I do know if that if you’re getting dunked on by Adam Schefter you’re both probably being dumb.