Sam Altman and Trump’s War Room. Plus, ESPN Draft Guru Mel Kiper Jr.

The Press Box

The Ringer

Sports

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on The Press Box, Bryan and Joel start by talking about two big pieces that have dropped this week. First is a story from the New York Times taking us inside the White House and how Trump led the United States into war with Iran. The second piece is from the New Yorker, about OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman (13:00). Lastly, they discuss the news and drama surrounding pictures released of NFL insider Dianna Russini and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel hanging out poolside in Arizona (21:13). Then, they are joined by ESPN’s draft expert Mel Kiper Jr (30:50). They discuss how he got into draft coverage, handling criticism, and much more. Then in Joel’s lightning round, Mel says who some of his favorite prospects have been at each position he’s ever scouted (1:04:35). Hosts: Bryan Curtis and Joel AndersonProducers: Bruce Baldwin, Donald LoBianco, Isaiah Blakely, and Sarah Reddy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:44.7	Welcome to Press Box Thursday.
0:47.0	It's Brian Curtis.
0:48.5	It's Joel Anderson.
0:49.7	It's producers Isaiah Blakely and Bruce Baldwin.
0:52.7	Coming up on the press box, what did we think of the New York Times' big story
0:56.5	on how Donald Trump took the United States to war?
1:00.3	And what do we think of the New Yorker's big story on Sam Altman?
1:05.7	And what did we think of the story everybody's talking about
1:09.1	in our text threads?
1:11.0	Mike Frable and Diana Rusini.
1:13.2	Plus, ESPN's Mel Khyper Jr. is going to join us to talk about the early days of covering the NFL draft.
1:21.4	But, Joel, I want to begin with two big hunks of quality journalism.
1:27.5	Okay. Wow.
1:29.0	Hunk number one.
1:32.7	The New York Times' story, how Trump took the U.S. to war with Iran by Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.
	...

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