“I think those fans deserve the truth. They don't need to be pandered to, they don't need to be misled.”

Tyler Dunne, the man behind Go Long and the best NFL feature writer working today, joins Brian to talk about Sean McDermott, Zay Jones and so much more.

Ty talks about the aftermath of his Sean McDermott series, how the coach and the team responded to that explosive series and reached out to him and how he’s now credentialed by the Bills. Tyler talks about the conversation he had with McDermott at the NFL Combine and what it felt like to walk into that meeting.

We then do a deep dive into his feature on Zay Jones that won him a first place award in the APSE National Writing Contest. Tyler talks about his tools for gently steering a conversation in an interview, how to handle the elephant in the room, and the value of doing extra reporting beyond the main interview. He also discusses how he protects his own mental health when writing and reporting heavy features, and how these stories make him want to be a better person.

“It's a people business, it's a human business, and you just want to have conversations and you just want to treat people like human beings.”

Links

Go Long

The McDermott Problem

I’m Still Alive: The Zay Jones story

Buffalo Bills Memory Lane with Chuck Pollock

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek (The best thing Tyler’s read lately.)

County Highway (The other best thing Tyler’s read lately.)

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