It’s no Ian Rapoport-Jordan Schultz at the Indianapolis Starbucks, but we’ll take our sports media fights where we can find them.

It began on Monday when ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter took to social media to explain that several teams had clocked Carnell Tate’s 40 time much lower than the official listing for the first-round prospect at the NFL Combine.

That was unusual given the added context, especially when compared to his posts about other players’ times, which didn’t include such context, leading some to believe that Schefter was doing a favor to Tate’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

Ohio State WR Carnell Tate, a potential top 10 pick, was timed by several NFL executives and GMs on Saturday with a 40 time in the range of 4.45-4.47 seconds.

Although the combine registers official times, teams always conduct their own timing, and those measurements with some…

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 1, 2026

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio noticed Schefter’s post and questioned whether Schefter had “canvass[ed] multiple teams for their numbers” or “simply copy and paste[d] a text from Rosenhaus.”

“The broader point, as addressed by [Awful Announcing’s Drew] Lerner, is that some are seeing through Schefter’s ‘report’ as an effort to do a favor for Tate’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus,” wrote Florio. “It’s part of the gig, and it’s something that — to the trained eye — is instantly recognizable.

“Did Schefter canvass multiple teams for their numbers, or did he simply copy and paste a text from Rosenhaus? Given the way the insider sausage gets made, the far safer bet is the latter.”

That led Schefter to bring out some receipts in the form of screenshots suggesting he had indeed reached out to multiple teams to confirm their measurements of Tate’s 40-yard dash time.

“Just to prove you’re wrong, again,” Schefter captioned the post.

While the screenshots couldn’t be verified on a personal or timeline basis, the criticism clearly struck a nerve with Schefter, who felt the need to respond directly.

Things might have ended there. However, Schefter discussed the fracas on Thursday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, saying of Florio’s commentary, “It was uncalled for. It was unprofessional. And it was unnecessary.”

WELL DONE @AdamSchefter 👏 #PMSLive https://t.co/5VK8NbrI2s pic.twitter.com/974flftP4T

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 5, 2026

As one would expect, Florio had some thoughts on Shefter’s assessment of his journalistic integrity.

Whether it was “called for” was for me to decide. Awful Announcing had written about it, and I decided it was an interesting point to make about how NFL insider sausage gets made.

Whether it was “professional” is a matter of opinion. Is it “professional” to explain to the audience why something that seemed on the surface to be unusual happened?

Whether it was “necessary” is inherently subjective. But I can understand why the person at the center of the issue would deem it unnecessary to explore why he was doing a favor for Rosenhaus, whose fee on the first four years of Tate’s contract will be tied directly to how high Tate is drafted.

Florio then reiterates that when it comes to Drew Rosenhaus’s clients, Schefter always seems to be the one who gets the news first, citing Thursday’s DJ Moore trade news, which Schefter broke.

The PFT boss then put a bow on his argument, standing his ground that Schefter was doing Rosenhaus a solid by posting what he did about Tate.

“Schefter’s decision to focus on a potential flaw in the official, laser-timed 40 from Tate and to not make that point for anyone else who ran it can be explained in very simple terms,” Florio wrote. “Schefter was doing a favor for someone who does plenty of favors for him.”

Your move, Schefty.