Seth Wickersham is an American sports journalist and author who works as a senior writer at ESPN. His reporting concentrates on long-form features and investigations, particularly about the National Football League. He joined ESPN The Magazine after graduating from the University of Missouri’s journalism school in 2000.
Seth Wickersham Books
| Book | Year | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| It's Better to Be Feared | 2021 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| American Kings | 2025 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Be on That Hill | 2026 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
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Wickersham was born in Denver and grew up in Colorado and Alaska. While studying at Missouri, he reported for the Columbia Missourian and covered Super Bowl XXXIV with fellow journalist Wright Thompson. His later work examined players, coaches, executives, team owners, and the institutions surrounding professional football.
His reporting has included investigations of NFL ownership and organizational disputes, as well as profiles of leading sporting figures. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2018. His writing has appeared in anthologies including The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Sports Writing, and he has received recognition from organizations including the Pro Football Writers Association and the National Association of Black Journalists.
His first book, It’s Better to Be Feared, was published in 2021 and examined the New England Patriots. American Kings, published in 2025, broadened his subject to the quarterback position. His 2026 collection Be on That Hill brought together twenty-eight essays from his ESPN reporting, covering football and subjects from other sports.
Wickersham has frequently collaborated with ESPN reporter Don Van Natta on investigations. Their subjects have included the league’s response to Spygate and Deflategate, franchise relocations, and disputes involving owners and league executives. With Tisha Thompson, they also reported on Dan Snyder’s efforts to retain control of the Washington Commanders. His individual profiles have covered figures outside the NFL, including basketball coach Gregg Popovich and climber Alex Honnold, extending his reporting beyond the football organizations examined in his first two books.
Football Books
It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness: Wickersham reconstructs the New England Patriots’ championship era through interviews, internal documents, and years of reporting on the team. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft are central to an account of sustained success and competing ambitions. The narrative follows the early Super Bowl victories, the years of setbacks and controversy, and a later championship run, examining how the organization’s methods worked and the strains they created among its leading figures.
American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback: This study follows the development of American quarterbacks from childhood football through high school, college, the NFL, and retirement. Wickersham uses accounts from established stars and younger players to examine training, evaluation, opportunity, fame, and failure. Subjects include Johnny Unitas, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Warren Moon, and Steve Young. The position becomes a way to investigate the expectations attached to leadership and achievement within American football and its wider culture.
Collected Sports Writing
Be on That Hill: Stories from the Summits of Sport: This collection gathers twenty-eight essays from more than two decades of Wickersham’s sports reporting, with a foreword by Wright Thompson. Football pieces feature players, coaches, owners, and the NFL, while other subjects include Kobe Bryant, climber Alex Honnold, and NASCAR. The selections combine profiles, investigations, and personal columns to examine ambition, institutional power, violence, and the consequences of repeatedly pursuing the highest levels of sporting achievement.