Is Pat McAfee hinting at an ESPN exit with cryptic X post?

On May 6, ESPN announced that veteran sports commentator Rich Eisen would reunite with the network as part of its "direct-to-consumer" platform. A few days later, ESPN host and analyst Pat McAfee posted the following cryptic message on X:

Is Pat McAfee hinting that he’s being replaced at ESPN? Jason Whitlock and “Fearless” contributor Steve Kim explore the possibilities.

Steve thinks McAfee was never a great fit at ESPN anyway.

“I don't think he's ever fully assimilated to that whole culture. He's not politically correct. He seems to lean culturally, if not politically, a different direction than a lot of the colleagues over there,” he says. “He may be looking to basically be back to being independent or a little bit less confined or not have as many constraints on what he says.”

Jason agrees: “Maybe he gets to go independent with Spotify ... Netflix or Amazon ... some sort of mega deal where he can remove himself from all the Stephen A. Smith and racial blowback that I think goes on more behind the scenes than what we see in public.”

“I've noticed about Pat in the last year or so — he's not afraid to stick his nose into these conflicts and be a little bit of an instigator. He seems to have fun at it. If he's completely independent, oh, he could stoke a lot of fires,” adds Steve.

If McAfee is indeed interested in taking his brand in an independent direction, now is the time to do it, says Jason. “There's a level of raw, bold, politically incorrect conversation where audiences are going. ... I don't think you can participate in that conversation comfortably while at ESPN.”

But if he does jump ship and go in an independent direction, will he lose his audience?

Steve says it’s unlikely.

“I don't know if his audience would diminish that much in terms of his YouTube audience and his base subscribers. I think there's actually people that are upset that he went to ESPN that might come back now,” he says. We’re in the age of “the independent content creator,” and “Pat McAfee is going to be Pat McAfee with or without that four-letter network.”

However, Jason thinks of another scenario: What if Pat McAfee goes to Fox Sports?

To hear Jason's and Steve’s thoughts on this possibility, watch the episode above.

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