Every single year, NFL hopefuls descend on Indianapolis to duke it out with their fellow players to show that they’re the best of the best. Apparently, that extends beyond athletes and to those who cover them.
Quite possibly the biggest story to come out of the NFL Combine didn’t have anything to do with drills, interviews, or who ran the fastest 40-yard-dash.
Instead, the attention of the sports world was equally on a fight that happened between two NFL insiders: Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The two reporters had conflicting accounts of a meeting between Las Vegas Raiders part-owner Tom Brady and then-undecided quarterback Matthew Stafford (who has since re-signed with the Los Angeles Rams).
Those who witnessed the event say Schultz confronted Rapoport at a Starbucks at a H๏τel in Indianapolis – with reports saying the two were ‘face to face’ before they eventually separated and calmed down.
While Rapoport made jokes about the event, Schultz hadn’t broken his silence until Monday on 670 The Score.
PH๏τo of the incident between Jordan Schultz and Ian Rapoport that led to NFL security being called, per our sources pic.twitter.com/qYTcgnlheP
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 28, 2025
Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz broke his silence after an altercation in Indianapolis
Schultz had some form of a beef with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport over a report on a player
‘I think what happened between Ian and I probably had been brewing for quite some time,’ the Fox Sports insider said.
‘And I just felt like I needed to say what I said and make it clear that I didn’t appreciate the way he was talking about me. And I felt I did that.’
Schultz skirted the chance to get into the particulars, but did address a pH๏τo that has circulated of the encounter obtained by Awful Announcing.
‘Obviously, you saw the pH๏τo. I don’t think the pH๏τo was particularly intimidating,’ said Schultz, who happens to be the son of longtime Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
‘But regardless of how you view it, I just felt like, for me, it was an important thing to say, important to get off my chest. I thought I did it. Hopefully we can move forward.’
NFL security is still investigating the matter and it isn’t clear what might come from those findings.