Eagles

Jeff McLane Seems Unnecessarily Salty

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 8th, 2020 · 4:12 PM EST

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Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Really good reporter, though he sometimes loses his composure and decides to ask snarky and dickish questions. He’s had some prior squabbles with Howard Eskin and Les Bowen and other juggernauts on the Eagles beat. Howie Roseman also made fun of his clothing at a press conference a while back, which was out of line. There’s never a dull moment with that group. There’s enough pettiness and childish behavior to go around.

Today Jeff seems really bothered by the fact that ESPN got the “Jalen Hurts is the starter” scoop, and criticized the Eagles for giving the story to Adam Schefter before tweeting it out themselves:

https://twitter.com/Jeff_McLane/status/1336384722646298627?s=20

A little while later, he criticized the team for giving exclusive quotes to Dave Spadaro on the team website:

At least Carson Wentz can know his demotion was brought to you by quotes sponsored by WaWa and an “exclusive” interview on a podcast sponsored by Lincoln Financial. https://t.co/GMeUKlIGm2

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) December 8, 2020

Jeff’s not wrong about that part. It’s always going to look corny when a team hands an “exclusive” to a guy on the payroll. Spuds does a good job but he’s an extension of the Eagles organization.

But really, McLane seems unnecessarily salty here. What is he mad about? Is he upset the Eagles gave the story to ESPN? Is he upset that he didn’t get it? Does he think Spadaro is a joke?

It’s not that big of a deal. National reporters get leaks. Teams use their own media people for exclusive stories. Jeff and the other independent beat writers will get to ask Doug about this on Wednesday and Friday. It’s not like they’re being completely shut out. They get plenty of time with the head coach.

This is not a situation that should necessitate snarky tweets. Who the fuck really cares? Only Jeff seems to be bothered by this.