NFL True Crime Podcasts the Latest Media Trend

Three major NFL true crime podcasts from nationally known journalism companies dropped this month within three days of each other.

Last year, Sports Illustrated regularly featured a new longform series, titled “SI: True Crime” in their magazines. Each story, whether it be Rich Cohen’s piece on a forgotten MLB shooting or Dan Greene’s deep-dive into the Joseph Randle case, was captivating and the best part of each issue. I mean, true crime and sports combined? There is, without question, no better tandem out there if you’re looking for a good read.

So when Sports Illustrated dropped their first serialized true crime podcast — Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan — on October 17th, it was like a holiday over at Slackie Brown HQ. Finally, I thought, they applied their investigative talents and resources to audio! It’s been great, as expected, and raises questions about McNair’s murder that many believed to be stone-cold fact.

Host Tim Rohan tells the story, one he reported on for over a year, over nine good-sized episodes. As of now, they’ve released the first two parts with new ones coming every Wednesday. Like all SI podcasts, Cadence 13 was a co-producer.

While there have been many serialized true crime shows since the Serial boom, sports, for whatever reason, has been ignored. Yet, after YEARS of vacancy, the genre was blessed with three sports-related true crime shows in a three-day span! Besides SI’s McNair project, two major newspapers dove in head first with NFL crime stories.

It should be noted that Amber Hunt and the “Accused” podcast team at the Cincinnati Enquirer had a former Miami (OH) football player in their first season but it wasn’t a major storyline. That first season, however, was groundbreaking and will always be on my personal Mount Rushmore of true crime shows.

The first of the three, an Aaron Hernandez investigation by The Boston Globe‘s infamous “Spotlight” team, came out on October 15th alongside a six-part longform series. Although both are six parts with the same title, Gladiator, the podcast still has three episodes to be released while all six articles are available to read. True crime heavyweight Wondery was a partner in the podcast series.

One day after Gladiator was released, and one day before Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan came out, The Charlotte Observer put out all seven episodes of their true crime series on disgraced Carolina Panther receiver Rae Carruth. The show, simply titled Carruth, mirrors Gladiator as it also has accompanying articles (and a 27-minute documentary). Veteran reporter Scott Fowler tells the story with McClatchy Studios co-producing the audio.

Earlier this week, we reported on the NFL’s decision to disallow fans from buying jerseys with Carruth’s name.

All three shows are expertly produced with beautiful website hubs and lots of trimmings. Above all, though, they’re flat-out entertaining and an asset to the true crime genre. Hopefully, the trio of established journalism brands prompts more folks to take the sports route when looking for a quality investigation.

READ: SPOTLIGHT REPORTER FROM FILM WORKING AARON HERNANDEZ STORY

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