The first public sign that something was up between Pat McAfee and Adam Schefter came on the March 11 episode of The Pat McAfee Show.<\/p>\n
Following a segment with Ian Rapoport, the former All-Pro punter heaped an unusual amount of praise on the NFL Network insider. And he also threw just enough shade elsewhere that it prompted a thread on the Pat McAfee subreddit<\/a> with the title \u201cDid they take a shot at Adam Schefter ???\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRetweeting and reposting breaking news from teams while on-air with us. RapSheet, what a lad,\u201d McAfee says in the clip. \u201cI\u2019m so thankful he was able to join us here. A very busy day. Not a lot of people were able to stop by.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that was clutch. Especially because he was getting everything right,\u201d producer\/co-host Boston Connor replied. \u201cThat was a big part of yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Knowing what we know now, it\u2019s not too difficult to connect the dots.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Schefter joined The Pat McAfee Show, marking his first appearance on the program in exactly 100 days. Coincidentally or not, his return came just hours after The Atheltic\u2019s Andrew Marchand published a detailed report<\/a> regarding McAfee\u2019s recent run at ESPN, including the news that he had \u201ceffectively banned\u201d Schefter from appearing on his eponymous show in recent months<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Marchand, Schefter\u2019s banishment resulted from the ESPN insider\u2019s failure to appear on the March 10 episode of The Pat McAfee Show, which also marked the first day of the NFL\u2019s legal tampering period. With Schefter busy on a free agency special that aired on ESPN2 (on the same day that an X outage caused chaos among news-breakers<\/a>), McAfee turned to Rapoport for what marked just his third appearance on the show of 2025.<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be his last.<\/p>\n While Rapoport had previously maintained a regular presence on PMS,\u00a0Schefter had seemingly become the show\u2019s go-to NFL insider since it began its licensing deal with ESPN in 2023. Prior to March 10, Rapoport had appeared on The Pat McAfee Show just twice in 2025, with both appearances coming at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine the previous week. Both segments featuring Rapoport were relatively short and primarily focused on his viral altercation with fellow insider Jordan Schultz<\/a>. Before the 2025 combine, his most recent PMS appearance had come on April 24, 2024.<\/p>\n Dating back to March 10, however, Rapoport has appeared on PMS 17 times, while Schefter hadn\u2019t appeared on the program since March 4 \u2014 his only appearance since also being present for McAfee\u2019s controversial comments regarding an unfounded rumor<\/a> involving a 19-year-old Ole Miss freshman\u2019s sex life \u2014 before Thursday\u2019s return. To put that more-than-three-month absence in context, Schefter had appeared on PMS 10 times through the first two months of 2025 until his alleged banishment.<\/p>\n While ESPN management would strongly prefer the two play nice and showcase Schefter as the premier NFL insider, McAfee had seemingly signaled a clear preference for Rapoport as his show\u2019s go-to NFL insider in the last three months. It\u2019s also worth noting Boston Connor\u2019s dig about \u201cgetting everything right,\u201d which appeared to be a reference to Schefter\u2019s reporting<\/a> regarding the Carolina Panthers being on the verge of signing free-agent defensive lineman Milton Williams, who ultimately signed with the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe signed, didn\u2019t he?\u201d McAfee asked Rapoport of Williams during the March 10 episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has not signed,\u201d Rapoport replied as McAfee and his crew reacted with shock.<\/p>\n As McAfee and A.J. Hawk both noted that Schefter had reported otherwise, Rapoport insisted that the deal between Williams and the Panthers hadn\u2019t been finalized.<\/p>\n \u201cOh! Source-off! Source-off!\u201d McAfree shouted excitedly as he and his crew naturally broke out into a song and dance.<\/p>\n Much bigger issues than a \u201csource-off\u201d were seemingly already brewing.<\/p>\n