Adam Schefter

Adam Schefter (born December 21, 1966) is an American sports journalist best known as the Senior NFL Insider at ESPN, a role he has held since August 2009, where he breaks major news stories and provides analysis on National Football League developments. With over three decades of experience covering the NFL, Schefter has built a reputation as one of the most connected and prolific reporters in sports media, appearing regularly on ESPN programs such as NFL Live, Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, SportsCenter, Get Up, and First Take, while also hosting The Adam Schefter Podcast. His work extends to authorship, with five books to his credit, including The Man I Never Met (2018), a New York Times bestseller, a memoir about personal loss and resilience.

Schefter's career began in print journalism during his time at the University of Michigan, where he contributed to the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, after initially struggling to secure other opportunities. He earned a B.A. from Michigan in 1989 and an M.A. from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1990, during which he gained experience covering niche sports for the Chicago Tribune. Following an internship at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Schefter launched his professional career in 1990 as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, later moving to the Denver Post, where he covered the Denver Broncos for more than 15 years and reported on their back-to-back Super Bowl victories in the late 1990s. From 2004 to 2008, he served as a reporter and analyst for NFL Network, honing his skills in broadcast before transitioning to ESPN.

Adam Schefter was born on December 21, 1966, in Valley Stream, New York. He grew up in the nearby community of Bellmore, New York, where his family owned a five-and-dime store.

From a young age, Schefter developed a passion for sports, particularly football, influenced by his father's habit of sharing updates on trades and free agent movements upon returning home from work. He avidly followed local sports coverage by reading newspapers such as The New York Post, The New York Times, and Newsday, which helped cultivate his early fascination with sports reporting.

Schefter attended John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, participating in school activities that included designing a themed Monopoly board for the senior yearbook. Though not an athlete himself, these experiences and his immersion in local sports media laid the groundwork for his future in sports journalism. He graduated from the school in June 1985.

Adam Schefter was raised in a Jewish family.