According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, the panel for Netflix’s NFL Christmas coverage studio show has been finalized, with Kay Adams hosting and Robert Griffin III, Manti Te’o, Mina Kimes and Drew Brees serving as analysts. They will work the pregame and postgame shows for both the Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans matchups that will take place on Christmas Day.
It’s a blend of media personalities from different networks. Adams is with FanDuel today where she hosts Up & Adams, Kimes works for ESPN, and Te’o works for NFL Network and is an occasional guest on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. ESPN recently laid off Griffin, who now hosts his own podcast, while Brees was previously at NBC. Per McCarthy, Adams will host from a set based in Los Angeles.
Brees, Griffin and Te’o all offer insight and analysis as former players while Kimes is one of the more well-respected analysts. Adams also was a panelist on Good Morning Football and her Up & Adams show is popular.
Per McCarthy, Scott Hanson, the host of NFL RedZone, will also contribute to the international coverage of the game along with Brees. Brees will also be a part of the coverage stateside.
Both Christmas games will be produced by CBS with Ian Eagle, Nate Burleson and J.J. Watt on the call of Steelers-Chiefs with Noah Eagle, Burleson and Greg Olsen calling Texans-Ravens. It will be Netflix’s first foray into football and one of its first ventures into live sports. Its entry into the space with the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing livestream did not go well, leading to concerns that Netflix won’t be able to handle the viewership of the Christmas Day games.
The streamer has assembled a good group of panelists for its studio show, but it might all be for naught if Netflix is plagued with the same issues it was during the Tyson-Paul stream. However, ESPN’s Dan Graziano said the NFL is confident that Netflix will have its live coverage figured out by Christmas.
The game itself is a big one for the Steelers, as they’ll look to prove they’re one of the best teams in the league against the 12-1, back-to-back Super Bowl-champion Chiefs. It’s a game that, if they win, can give the Steelers a lot of confidence heading into the postseason where they’ll look to win their first playoff game since the 2016 season.
