DeSean Jackson wants NFL to mic players in games without fans

TV broadcasters will have some decisions to make when sports return. Without fans, they won’t be able to lean on the usual crowd noise to fill out the broadcast, and might have to come up with other ideas.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and tackle Lane Johnson have one of those ideas. Johnson proposed putting microphones on all the players if the NFL plays games in empty stadiums, and Jackson eagerly agreed.

“Yeah, it’s gonna get crazy. I think they should, though,” Jackson said on Johnson’s “Outside the Lane” podcast, via Tim Daniels of Bleacher Report. “They should give the fans the inside to really see what goes on between the white lines,” Jackson replied. “It gets crazy, bro. I know in the trenches it gets crazy, and I know out there on the outside it gets crazy too with the conversations we going back and forth on.”

There has been talk of piping in fake crowd noise to simulate the real thing, but something mic’ing players could be a lot more interesting. We don’t really get to hear what players say on the field during games. Obviously, broadcasters would have to be very careful with what makes it to air, but it’s a very intriguing idea.