ESPN’s Todd McShay shares story of being hospitalized because of the coronavirus
For 11 months, ESPN’s Todd McShay’s focus is primarily on the NFL Draft.
As an NFL Draft and college football analyst, McShay works on mock drafts and is continually analyzing college players who are about to make the jump to the NFL. It all leads up to his busiest weekend when the draft is held.
But after all that work, McShay was unable to attend this year’s NFL Draft because he was in a hospital because of the coronavirus. McShay, 43, talked about his battle with the disease on Adam Schefter’s podcast.
“The scary part is, Schefty, I had a mild case of it,” McShay said. “And it just lingered because I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was preparing for the draft. I have a 400-page book that I distribute internally and we use for draft weekend. Just the stress of getting ready for the draft and then knowing potentially that I might miss the draft, I think my doctors have said that it kind of all added up.”
McShay, who was a walk-on for the University of Richmond football team, said he didn’t have a life-or-death experience, but the fatigue was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
“The coughing was hard, the fever would spike a little bit here and there, but the level of exhaustion. I can’t even explain to you, man,” McShay said.
“I mean, I was a Massachusetts kid who went down to Virginia to play football and had two-a-days in August in 100 degree temperatures with 97% humidity, and there were days I didn’t think I was gonna make it. And I’m telling you, this was more exhausting.”
At one point, McShay slept for 15 hours straight. The days began blending together and he would sometimes wake up, eat a scoop of peanut butter out of the jar and then fall back asleep.
McShay wasn’t certain when he got the coronavirus, but he was diagnosed in early April, which is the month of the NFL Draft.
That event had McShay’s full attention, but he realized later that he should have been resting.
“I can remember just wrapping myself in a blanket on the couch, like when you have the flu, kind of shivering and I was coughing,” McShay said. “And I would just nod off for hours at a time. And I tried, I was trying to get back to producers. I spent 15 years at ESPN, trying to get on the first night of the draft on the set. And this was like this was the year, I finally was gonna be on the set ...
“And I’m sitting there fighting doing everything I can to try to get there. But I just couldn’t do it. And you know you and I talked, and I just wasn’t lucid and I thought I was, but I wasn’t, and then I would send a text to (an ESPN producer) and then he would text me back ... and then I would get back to him four or five hours later, and he’s like, ‘Bud, you missed three shows.’ So I was just gone and got really dark in the hospital, when I was just by myself and I knew the draft was going on. And I couldn’t watch it.”
While he couldn’t bear to watch the draft, others involved in the annual event reached out to McShay. Doctors at the hospital had taken away McShay’s phone so he would rest, but when he got it back, he had 437 text messages.
“I think it was 10 GMs reached out during the actual draft,” McShay said. “Like, the picks were going on, and I looked at the time and I was like, wow, the fact that they would stop what they were doing and send a text, making sure that I was OK, it’s really cool.
“I was just trying to scroll through and make sure I got back to the people that I really needed to. But when I started to come to and left the hospital and (had) 437 texts, it was like it was a feeling that I’ve never felt before. ... It just meant a lot to me. I will never in my life forget it.”
You can listen to the podcast here.
