ESPN fires Robert Griffin III; former NFL quarterback has 2 years left on contract | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III has been fired from ESPN after three years at the network, Andrew Marchand reported for The Athletic.

Sunday countdown for the NFL Anchor Sam Ponder was also fired from the network in what Marchand described as “budget moves” at the end of the fiscal year.

Griffin had two years remaining on his contract. Marchand said his salary, which was more than $1 million per year, “will be respected.”

Griffin appeared to confirm the news in a post on his X account:

The former Baltimore Ravens quarterback previously served as an analyst for ESPN. Monday Night Football but it was replaced ahead of the 2024 season by recently retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.

Ponder and Griffin are the only ESPN employees who will be laid off at the end of the network’s fiscal year, according to Marchand.

Griffin retired from the NFL following his 2020 season with the Ravens.

He was part of Monday Night Football for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, in addition to appearing on ESPN Get up and act as an announcer during college football games.

Both ESPN and Fox Sports were interested in signing Griffin after his initial tryouts for the networks, Bobby Burack reported for OutKick in 2021. Sources at the networks said Griffin’s audition was “among the best tryouts they’ve ever seen,” Marchand wrote at the time for the network. The New York Post.

Three years later, Marchand reported to The Athletic that Griffin “had been viewed as a rising star at the network, but his form has plateaued, putting him at serious risk of being out on Mondays.”

The acquisition of Kelce, who Marchand reported was also being pursued by NBC and CBS, appears to have helped push Griffin off the broadcast schedule altogether.

Griffin spent seven seasons in the NFL with Washington, as well as the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens before playing his final game in 2021. He previously said he was contacted by an NFL team about a possible return to the league last August.