How Peter Schrager went on journey from WFAN caller to ESPN NFL analyst

ESPN NFL analyst Peter Schrager, formerly of the NFL Network and Fox, takes a timeout to for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.

Q: Why should I listen to podcast “The Schrager Hour”?

A: It’s a good hang. I’m trying to get a side of football people — whether it be coaches, general managers, former players, or even just a notable fan — trying to get a side of them where I show a different version of them, and they tell stories where they’ve never told them before, and do so in a pretty casual environment. The goal of the show is to have guests that aren’t doing media everywhere else and to get the most engaging version of them. I want to have the listener or the viewer feel as though they’re at a fun dinner and everyone’s telling stories and they’re a part of it. We’ve had Eli [Manning], Al Michaels, [Cam] Skattebo, among many others, and I think you’re getting great versions of them.

Q: Describe your podcast and television style.

A: I feel like I’m the same exact person I am on air as I am off air. I didn’t come up through a prominent sports broadcasting school, I never was properly media trained, and I like to keep the authenticity of I’m just a guy from Jersey who loves football, loves New York, and loves telling stories and loves sharing them. I am always smiling on air because I’m genuinely happy to be doing the job. I try to keep that same passion and unbridled enthusiasm for the storytelling alive, and it not be too corporate and it not be too watered-down by what you’re supposed to hear and what people think that they need to hear. I like to remember that football is fun.

Q: Who are broadcasters or announcers you’ve admired over the years?

A: On the TV side, Al Michaels, Troy Aikman, Ian Eagle — all of them have a little bit of rascal to them, where they’ll say it like it is, and I so appreciate that always. It’s like a wink and a nod at the viewer. As far as writing, I would say Bill Simmons and Peter King early on in my career were very influential in the way that they wrote with a first person approach to it. And I have a lot of respect for “Mike and the Mad Dog” and the way that they talked about things, the fact that they were able to do it in an unfiltered way was really cool for me, too.

Q: Did you ever call into their show?

A: Yes. I was a caller into their show. I work with Mad Dog [Chris Russo] now on Wednesdays on “First Take,” and I have to pinch myself that I’m actually doing that. And then Francesa used to have me on Fridays, and I was over the moon that I was actually talking with him. But every day after school, I listened to those guys for hours, and I think it helped form a lot of the ways that I like to connect with the listener, viewer, reader, whatever. They’ve been a huge influence over my career.

Q: Were you Peter from Freehold?

A: Yes, Peter from Freehold. I would call in [Joe] Benigno when he was doing the Umberto’s Clam House. I would call in Adam Schein and Tony Paige on late nights, Richard Neer. You name it. I’m a product of WFAN sports talk radio.

Q: Favorite interview subjects?

A: Sean Payton is the ultimate raconteur. An open book. Sean Payton and I will sit down and it’ll start off with a question about Bo Nix, and then 30 minutes later we’re talking about Wellington Mara and Ray Rhodes, and he’s going into a Jerry Jones story that I’ve never heard before. … I’ve got a very good relationship with Sean McVay. He’s an incredible interview subject. … I’ll get on the phone with Kevin Burkhardt, and I’ll come away laughing, getting smarter, I find him to be an incredible subject to bounce ideas off of and a real friend.

Q: If you could be be a sideline reporter at one game in NFL history, which would it be?

A: I would go with the [2012] NFC Championship game in Candlestick, Eli versus the 49ers in the rain, just getting the absolute snot kicked out of him and getting up time after time after time in a hostile environment. And I know it’s not as celebrated as the Green Bay game in the cold, but I think that performance by Eli Manning is one of the all-time courageous performances, and I wish I was the one reporting on what was going on on the sidelines that day.

Q: Is there any reason you have yet to appear on the “ManningCast”?

A: It’s an interesting one, right? I’m now doing a podcast, it’s produced by Omaha, I have a great relationship with Eli and Peyton [Manning], and yet I have yet to have been invited to come on. I don’t think I’m a big enough name yet, but give me a couple of years.

Q: If you could interview any subject in NFL history, who would it be?

A: Steve Sabol. I grew up watching those NFL Films Presents, and I loved his interview style — sitting on a couch with a star, just wearing a funky sweater. I so admired that man. We just never overlapped in a way where I got a chance to really meet him before he got ill, and that’s a great regret. I would have loved to have just heard him tell stories and chart the course of NFL history.

Q: What is so great about being a “Monday Night Football” sideline reporter?

A: It’s unbelievable holding that microphone flag. It’s everything — it’s [Howard] Cosell, it’s Hank Williams, it’s growing up listening to Al Michaels and [Mike] Tirico and whoever else has done it, and it’s just the history and the prestige that comes with it. I love this sport, and MNF is a huge piece to it. I really take it seriously, it’s an unbelievable honor.

Q: A favorite “Good Morning Football” memory?

A: We were kind of like an afterthought of a show early on, and we didn’t know if we were going to make it or if anyone was watching. They weren’t going to send us to Houston for that [2017] Super Bowl, and we begged them to let us. We showed up at 6 a.m. Houston time to do a live show, and there were thousands of people there who showed up to watch us do a live show, and it was like the first realization that we might have had something special. That original crew of me, Nate [Burleson], Kay [Adams], Kyle [Brandt],we had some real special moments, the “firsts” for a lot of us. I just look back on it all so fondly.

Q: Favorite Combine memory or moment?

A: Yeah! I’ll give you a good one. A couple of years ago, I’m there when the defensive backs are working out on a Friday night, and there’s a guy walking around with a camera, and it’s like a professional camera, and he’s taking photos, and he’s wearing sweats, and he’s all alone just wandering. And I go up to him and it’s Caleb Williams, who was the No. 1 overall pick that year and a guy that everyone had all these thoughts about because he wasn’t meeting with teams, and he wasn’t going to work out. And I’m like, “What are you doing here?” And he says, “I’ve got a few teammates from USC who are working out, and I don’t want to make a big thing of it but I wasn’t going to miss them in their workout on Friday night.” He was just there to support his teammates and didn’t want any attention. You kind of get a feeling for, “OK, maybe this guy’s a little misunderstood the way that he’s being portrayed.” Stuff like that is why I love being there on the ground, so I can make my own takeaways.

Q: How many hours in a day after the Super Bowl do you start working on your mock drafts?

A: It starts at the Senior Bowl in January, if I’m being honest. But that mock draft is a living document, I take a lot of pride in it, and it’s been universally praised and it’s been universally killed when I mess up here and there, but I’ve got a pretty good track record. And I would say it’s not really at the Super Bowl or after the Super Bowl, but I really crack down the week of the NFL draft, and that’s when I’m trying to sift through what’s real and what’s B.S. That’s the beauty of it, it’s the ultimate jigsaw puzzle.

Q: What are the three most electric events you’ve either attended as a fan or worked?

A: I was at the Seahawks-49ers Michael Crabtree-Richard Sherman game, I was on the field for that, I still would say that [2013] NFC Championship game in Seattle was one of the most electric places I’ve ever been at. No. 2, I will say the 28-3 Super Bowl comeback [in 2017], being on the field for that entire fourth quarter and overtime was sensational. And then, I was also on the field when the Chiefs were down in the fourth quarter against the 49ers [in 2020] and they run the Wasp play — third-and-17, Patrick Mahomes hits Tyreek Hill for the big gain — that kick-starts their dynasty, to see that all go down in an instant was just sensational to be at firsthand.

Q: Have you ever been in a bad mood?

A: Yes, yes, just not publicly. I like to keep those moments private.

Q: What one thing got you in a bad mood?

A: I will cry into my pillow if I make a factual mistake on air, if I screw something up, if I misquote somebody, or if my plane is delayed and I want to complain about it and I know nobody wants to hear it.

Q: Your preseason Super Bowl pick was Bills-Eagles.

A: I am not straying from that. That is still my Super Bowl pick.

Q: Who wins it?

A: Bills.

Q: Why?

A: It’s his time. This guy [Josh Allen] has been knocking on the door, he’s done everything right. He’s the face of the league to me. I feel like this is their last year in that stadium after all the heartbreaking losses. Sports works in a funny way, they’re going to get a Super Bowl championship in the last year in that stadium.

Q: Who are the biggest threats to the Bills and Eagles?

A: Biggest threat to the Bills is still the Chiefs, because they’ve had their number. And the biggest threat to the Eagles, to me, is going to be the L.A. Rams because they’ve already had three matchups in the last 12 months, they know each other inside and out.

Q: The biggest surprises so far of this NFL season?

A: Love what the Jaguars are doing, not enough being discussed of 4-1. A first-year head coach, first-year defensive coordinator, first-year offensive coordinator, first-year GM. A complete rebuild, and as we watch the Jets and we think, “Well, it’s going to take some time,” you see what’s happening in Jacksonville and you have to ask: Why?

Q: Do you think Aaron Rodgers will win a playoff game with the Steelers?

A: He absolutely could, but with the Steelers, I’m waiting until November, December to really weigh in. That’s a team with some guys in their 30s and a guy in their 40s, it doesn’t always go this way for 18 weeks.

Q: If Rodgers were to win a playoff game, how would Jets fans react?

A: They’d probably say whatever. It’s just another, you know, whatever. If I’m the Giants fans, I’m almost more concerned about Daniel Jones going on a run than the Jets are with Aaron Rodgers.

Q: What are your thoughts on Daniel Jones?

A: I think sports are funny, and it’s like a cruel joke to Giants fans, the same calendar year as Saquon [Barkley] is hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. But that said, same thing as Saquon: Daniel Jones couldn’t come back to be the quarterback for another year, and I don’t think Saquon would have done what he did with Philly in a Giants uniform. Sports could be funny, sports could be cruel, and for the Giants to be watching Daniel Jones have an MVP season, you couldn’t make it up.

Q: What do you think of Aaron Glenn?

A: Aaron Glenn is as authentic and as real as it gets, and the players already want to run through a wall for him. And yet, this first five weeks, you understand where Jets fans are entirely frustrated. Trust me, Aaron Glenn is as frustrated as they are.

Q: Brian Daboll?

A: A good man, a good coach, and I am rooting for him and Jaxson Dart to find magic in a bottle here. I’m hopeful.

Q: Dart?

A: A ton of spunk, a ton of swag, a lot riding on his shoulders, and a lot of people hoping that this works out.

Q: Cam Skattebo?

A: A treat, a national treat, and I can’t wait for the country and for these Giant fans to really get to know him. He’s a Tasmanian devil with a heart of gold. I love this kid.

Q: Abdul Carter wearing No. 51 instead of 56?

A: Probably appropriate, but I don’t hate anyone who’s got the ambitions. I would almost be more concerned if he didn’t want to be the next Lawrence Taylor.

Q: MetLife Stadium turf?

A: I also saw Tyreek Hill absolutely shatter his leg on the grass at Miami. I’m not an expert in grounds, and I don’t think the Giants or the Jets want these injuries. I’m not enough of an expert to have a real passionate opinion on that.

Q: Buccaneers rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka?

A: Unbelievable. Offensive Rookie of the Year and the guy could be a captain as a first-year player, he’s that much of a polished human being.

Q: Bears new coach Ben Johnson?

A: Misunderstood. Brilliant guy with a ton of edge to him, and I like that.

Q: Ten years from now: Caleb Williams versus Jayden Daniels versus Drake Maye, who’s the top?

A: This feels a lot like Eli versus [Ben] Roethlisberger versus [Philip] Rivers. I think all three of them are incredibly talented. Jayden I hope can get even better, I hope Caleb figures it out and I hope that Drake Maye is everything that we hope for after watching that Sunday night performance [on the road against the Bills].

Q: When will Shedeur Sanders start for the Browns?

A: I have no answer on that. I do think he will see the field at some point, but let’s not discredit coach [Kevin] Stefanski, a two-time Coach of the Year, and that he knows that position as well.

Q: What did you think of Shedeur falling to the fifth round?

A: Shocked. I didn’t have a team for him in the first round, so I figured, “Alright, early second.”

Q: Why did he slip?

A: Still don’t entirely know. But what we’ve learned is that if you don’t go in the first round, you can go anywhere from the second to the seventh, and there’s no rhyme or reason sometimes, and this one, we still don’t have a concrete answer, just a bunch of teams dancing around the fact that Shedeur wasn’t a fit for them.

Q: Jerry Jones’ Netflix documentary?

A: Entertaining as hell, and kind of synced up perfectly with the timing of the Micah [Parsons] trade, and just a riverboat gambler who plays by the beat of his own drum, he’s not going to necessarily bow to anybody.

Q: What’s your view on the Parsons trade?

A: Not shocked. I don’t think Jerry Jones liked the way things went down. So he moved him before having to pay him big bucks.

Q: Joe Flacco with the Bengals?

A: Some day they’re going to do a “30 for 30” on Joe Flacco. This is I believe his sixth team, and he’s going to start, and I think there are very few people in the history of the game that could be asked to do that, and be actually sought after to do it, but Flacco’s that guy, and he gladly does it, and he’s a willing and able participant (chuckle).

Q: Mahomes?

A: He’s got this incredible chip on his shoulder, but he doesn’t wear it with him where he comes off as angry. But this is a guy who is as motivated as anybody, he’s a sweet, sweet kid. I participate in this charity in Kansas City every summer called The Big Slick, and it’s for the Children’s Mercy Hospital and they raise millions. It’s like one of the only weeks he has off, and he’s never missed it. He’s a Texas kid who has become truly an ambassador for that city of Kansas City. He’s been the face of the NFL the last decade, and I think he’s done a wonderful job at it.

Q: What has happened to the Ravens?

A: That defense is no longer feared, and we saw signs of it at the start of last season, but they turned it around. They haven’t been able to turn it around yet, and with no defense, there’s no Baltimore Ravens.

Q: Can they scramble back into the playoff race?

A: Yes, their schedule gets significantly easier over the second half. If they take care of business in their division, they’ll be in the playoffs.

Q: Whatever comes to mind: Pat McAfee.

A: Joyful. Loves bringing a smile and having fun with the game, and I so appreciate that. And also very supportive of his people, and I respect his loyalty.

Q: Mel Kiper Jr.

A: The godfather, of all of this. I just got to know him and he’s as kind a man as you could imagine. He created an industry.

Q: Dan Orlovsky.

A: Incredibly hard-working and non-stop motor, to not only educate, but to share his love for the game.

Q: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.

A: Big brothers. Friends. Both those guys left from Fox and came to ESPN, and they showed me that there is a career change you can make and it’s not the end of the world if you leave one of these great companies. I figured if they can do it, I can do it, too.

Q: What is it like fishing with Randy Moss?

A: It was not just Randy Moss, it was Brian Urlacher and Joel Klatt, and we were on a boat and went fishing for three days. Randy is a dream.

Q: When was that?

A: 2013, it was a Fox special that aired once on FS1 at like 2 a.m., and we were just fishing with Randy Moss and he was telling stories and we were doing an NFL preview, and it was one of the coolest things of my life.

Q: Boyhood idol?

A: Phil Simms.

Q: Boyhood dream?

A: To be able to either talk about football for a living, or collect football and baseball cards for a living.

Q: Whatever happened to your baseball cards?

A: They are in a garbage can somewhere in Freehold, New Jersey, when my parents moved about 10 years ago.

Q: From Freehold to where?

A: To Manalapan (laugh). I thought I was going to never have to work a day based on my 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card, but they’re not worth s–t right now.

Q: You were a political science major at Emory?

A: I was, and I was supposed to go to law school. I just never got around to applying.

Q: Your parents might not have been happy about that, I would guess.

A: They were supportive, but yes, after a year living in my childhood bedroom after graduating college writing freelance sports articles, I’m sure they had their doubts.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Don Rickles, Paul Rudd, Conan O’Brien.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “A Few Good Men.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Jack Nicholson.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?

A: Billy Joel.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: A pizza from Lucali.

Q: Favorite New York or Jersey things?

A: Well Jersey, Federici’s Pizza in Freehold, it’s still the gold standard. In New York City, I like going to the spots. Like I’m Taylor Swift or something. It’s very cool getting a dinner at the Polo Bar or Sartiano’s or The Eighty Six.

Q: What is the biggest obstacle or adversity you’ve had to overcome?

A: I’m a public school kid from Freehold, New Jersey, who had no real proper training in this, and passion and hard work is what got me to where I am, and the adversity is just having so many doors shut over the years just because they’re like, “Well why would anyone hear from you?” So I had to create every opportunity on my own through the work, and a lot of that was sleeping on the couch of an NFL quality control assistant’s hotel room at the Senior Bowl, or paying my own way to the Super Bowl, or paying my own way to the Combine, and begging the NFL for a credential and just trying to make the most of it. So, adversity for me was just 20 years of having to answer to the word “no” and finding a way around that.

Q: What is it like being Peter Schrager?

A: I’m the same exact person that I was as a 22-year-old kid living in my parents’ house in New Jersey writing freelance articles for Foxsports.com as I am now wearing a fancy suit and tie on ESPN, and I love interacting with people who take the time to care about any of our work, or any of my work. I look at myself in my career and my life as just one in a million and I appreciate it, entirely blessed.

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: That I get to tell the stories of some of these people that you don’t hear elsewhere, and I get to share kind of the human side of a lot of this. I feel like it’s a divisive time right now in our country, it’s a divisive time on TV — whether it be sports, politics, whatever — and I like to have people think that you can come away from watching what I say with a smile and have a moment or two of levity in a pretty charged time.

Q: What drives you?

A: I love what I do. I love that I get to do this, and what really drives me obviously is I’ve got an amazing wife Erica and two great kids, and I want them to be proud. What also drives me is that I’m one in a million in that people all say they love what they do, and maybe accountant and marketing people and insurance guys really do love what they do, but I chased a dream and I’m actually getting to do it, and I don’t take it for granted for a second in a day. People thought I was crazy when I got out of college, like now, “I’m going to be a sportswriter,” and I have a dream that’s 20 years later and I’m doing everything I want to do and more. The fact that I could serve as any example for any kid anywhere, guy or girl, to be able to do this, I don’t take that for granted. Pretty cool.