On most days, being among the lead NFL Draft experts for ESPN is a position with very high job security, but not on this day.
Longtime ESPN NFL Draft expert Todd McShay was let go by the network on Friday, according to New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand.
The move is notable not just because of McShay’s beat – covering college and to some extent NFL football – but also because of McShay’s tenure at the network. McShay has spent nearly twenty years covering the NFL Draft for ESPN. McShay has also worked as a field analyst covering college football since 2016 and many thought he was the logical, eventual replacement for lead ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper.
ESPN Radio personality Todd McShay prior to the start of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Washington Huskies on December 31, 2016, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While that ascendency is clearly not going to happen, McShay will likely not be unemployed for long as he is one of the most well-connected and longest-serving draft analysts in the business.
Another notable cut to ESPN’s NFL coverage came with the network’s decision to part ways with former NFL QB Matt Hasselbeck, who had been with ESPN since 2016.
ESPN analysts Matt Hasselbeck on set during the MNF broadcast prior to the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium on September 25, 2017, in Glendale, Arizona. (Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
The layoffs are part of a company-wide Disney effort to terminate 7,000 positions this year.