There is plenty of work to be done if ESPN is going to fix its Monday Night Football booth. The team of Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland have been brutally criticized in their two seasons, Now a report from Andrew Marchand in the New York Post suggests the sports network could move to a different combination for 2020.
While the Post confirmed an Outkickthecoverage.com report ESPN is going after Saints quarterback Drew Brees when he retires, which is supposed to happen after 2020, it adds NBC is after Brees, too.
In the meantime, Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Dan Orlovsky have emerged as top candidates for next season’s Monday Night Football booth.
First Brees:
Brees won’t get what is now known as “Romo money,” though ESPN is offering closer to the $6.5 million neighborhood that Jon Gruden lived in during his final seasons on MNF, according to sources. That would be nearly twice the average of Romo’s rookie contract, and in the zipcode of the around $7 million Troy Aikman receives from FOX.
As for MNF:
Tessitore and McFarland have not yet been informed that they will not be back, though, they both know ESPN has been looking for replacements. … ESPN has not settled on the team of Levy, Riddick and/or Orlovsky. The network might be wise to keep it simple and go with a two-man booth. It should be clear, they do not have the job yet, as there are other options.