NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport was hilariously duped by a former NFL coach, leading to the most embarrassing moment of his career. And he does not think it was funny at all.
Mike Mularkey recently spilled the beans on a talk show in Jacksonville, revealing that back in 2018, he told Rapoport he was about to sign an extension, although he knew the Titans were about to fire him.
The journalist reported the false extension, and Mularkey was fired the following day. The former coach explained that he wanted to mess with his bosses and create some confusion within the organization after taking them to the playoffs only to be rewarded with termination; it was unfortunate that poor Ian had to get caught in the arc of fire.
“The best thing I did there at the end, which I can now talk about was, when I got called in that Monday morning after the New England game, I knew they were going to fire me,” Mularkey recalled.
“So Sunday night I called Ian Rapoport and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you know this but I’m going to break it to you. But I’m getting a new contract in the morning.’ And he reported it. It was all over the country that I was getting a contract in the morning.”
Do you remember @RapSheet reporting Mike Mularkey was going to get a contract extension from the #TitanUp but was fired instead? I think we might know why… @BrentASJax @A_Train_92 pic.twitter.com/2YlyRg7d2k
— BrentDanStuartMarcelAlivia (@ActionSportsJax) November 20, 2024
Ian Rapoport Did Not Find This Funny
Rapoport reacted to a video of Mularkey’s revelation this weekend, reliving the embarrassment on “The Insiders,” making it clear that he was upset and did not find it funny.
“Those guys, yukking it up — pretty funny, for them, I guess,” he said. “If you don’t care about accuracy and taking someone’s reputation and rubbing it in the mud.
“Everyone said Mike Mularkey’s a good guy — he always was to me. I liked him. Thought he was very respectable. That is not cool. That’s not funny. I was a younger reporter then, and the amount of online hate and ridicule I got because Mike Mularkey thought it would be funny to get back at his old boss, it was not fun.
“So, I don’t have much to say. I don’t blame Mike Mularkey. But I want to. That was not cool and that was not funny. And we should treat truth better than that.”
Come on, Rap. That was funny.
