Courtesy USA Today

(April 3, 2009) Here's how far the notion of the TV NFL draftnik has evolved: Mel Kiper, the category's inventor, will now face off against his Kiper 2.0 — Todd McShay, who this month will be added to ESPN's draft coverage.

They've sparred on-air, but never during the high holiday of draftniks. "Mel is still our E.F. Hutton," says ESPN producer Jay Rothman. "Finally, however, we have a foil for him. He deserves the shot. Once an hour, they'll spar — go toe-to-toe. But we'll make sure they're not too nasty, that there's not too much blood."

Kiper will be in his usual perch at the New York draft site; McShay will be at ESPN's studios in Connecticut. McShay, who last year was on ESPNews' draft coverage, will also be equipped with the same type of video screen CNN used on its election coverage, largely to zoom in on geographic areas. Rothman says: "I hate to call it our John King/CNN board, but it's the same technology. But we're not going to Google Earth the Pop Warner fields these kids played on. We'll use it to show things like best available players."

McShay's take on the board: "It's an enormous iPhone, NFL version."

Heated point-counterpoint segments are now common across TV as a handy way to convert any issue into harrumph-filled theatrics. But McShay says, "One nice thing is I've never felt that pressure, and I think Mel would agree. I don't change my opinion just to be argumentative."

And their on-air squabbles, he says, "are never personal. … Every day on the street, I hear, 'Go get Mel.' But we can separate business from friendship."