Paul Finebaum calls out sports media for Brian Kelly's viral comments on NIL

Some people interpreted a few recent comments from Brian Kelly in a way that led many to believe that he was against the use of NIL at LSU. However, those thoughts couldn’t have been further off considering his answer in whole. That’s why Paul Finebaum has now taken it out on the media for allowing that story to run wild.

Finebaum discussed the coverage of Kelly’s words during an appearance on ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’ on Monday. He blamed sports media for being so quick to having takes on it without truly understanding the response’s context. That has since led to ideas of Kelly that are as false as they are difficult to take back.

“What happened last week was a major indictment of the sport’s media today and why, in many ways, it is not to be believed,” said Finebaum. “I say that coming from a position where I’m often criticized, as you guys are, for how we handle certain stories. It was media malpractice. It was absolutely disgraceful – the way so many people took that and ran with it without having any idea of what Brian Kelly said.”

“By the way, you don’t have to listen to 20 minutes. All you need to do is listen to two minutes of his specific answer to Jacques Doucet’s question,” Finebaum said. “It made perfect sense but, by the time we get a chance to listen to it nowadays in the media, guys, everybody has already disseminated their hot takes and their kill shots. It’s very hard to put the genie back in the bottle.”

The answer by Kelly was in reference to a question during the interview about the Tigers’ defensive linemen. In discussing the options that they considered in the transfer portal, Kelly said they hadn’t been able to land some of them because they’re “not in the market of buying players”.

“We’re selling something a little bit differently,” said Kelly. “We’re not in the market of buying players. Unfortunately, right now, that’s what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought.”

However, that answer was almost two minutes long with that portion only making up for the first part of it. Kelly would continue by saying that name, image, and likeness is something that is a focus for the Tigers. It’s just not the sole one in comparison with aspects like opportunities or the developmental piece within their program.

“Look, I understand that NIL is part of this. We have an incredible collective. We have very, very generous opportunities around the greater Baton Rouge area for NIL opportunities. So they are here but we’re not going to go out and buy players,” said Kelly. “That’s not what this is about. This was never about that.”

Finebaum does not care for the light that led to this portrayal of Kelly over the last week or so. It’s out there now, though, because of some people’s choices in how they covered one or two lines rather than the response in ful.

“It was completely and totally unfair for Brian Kelly,” said Finebaum. “Even after we said what we did and after intelligent people and responsible people in the media have said what they did, it’s almost too late because most people right now who just kind of drive by and listen to things in quick, hot-take time probably believe Brian Kelly is against NIL and is Dabo Swinney 2.0 – when we all know that he’s not.”