Adam Schefter Tactlessly Teased COVID News on Twitter About Ref

Adam Schefter gets it right 99% of the time, which makes his rare misses that much more glaring. Today, he had one of those gaffes, teasing a piece of COVID news on Twitter he was preparing to announce on ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown that turned out to be much different than what people assumed.

When Schefter tweets a note like this, the assumption is it's about a player or coach or front office member or someone of note who has something to do with a team. Turns out it was about NFL senior VP of officiating Al Riveron, who missed being in the replay booth in Week 1 because he had COVID.

This news was met with a collective "why the hell did you tease this" reaction. While Riveron is a notable name in the NFL ref world, he's not exactly notable. Unless you are a well-informed NFL aficionado, you've probably never heard of Riveron before now. Another issue with the tweet was it came shortly after Ian Rapoport tweeted out the good that no players tested positive on Saturday.

Schefter's teaser tweet felt distasteful given the seriousness of COVID. Nearly 200,000 Americans have died from the disease. Trying to drum up viewership by using it as a reason to tune in isn't exactly an upstanding move from a reporter with a sterling reputation. Then again, no one bats 1.000 so we also should give Schefter the benefit of the doubt here.