Andrew Marchand suggests Manning brothers as replacement if Troy Aikman leaves ‘Monday Night Football’

There is suddenly a real chance that Troy Aikman could break up with Joe Buck after the season, ending the longest active partnership in an NFL broadcasting booth.

Both Aikman and Buck were entering the final year of their respective contracts with ESPN heading into the 2026 NFL season, but Buck recently signed a six-year, $108 million extension to remain the voice of Monday Night Football and call another Super Bowl for the network in 2031.

Most assumed Aikman’s deal would follow soon after. Instead, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback recently revealed that talks with the network are on pause for now — the first real sign of trouble between Aikman and ESPN going into an offseason when multiple top NFL game analysts will hit free agency.

During an appearance over the weekend on The Varsity podcast, sports media insider Andrew Marchand suggested that while Greg Olsen would likely be the network’s top candidate, the Manning brothers could be a strong option in the booth next to Buck.

“This isn’t something that I’ve heard or anything, but this is an idea I had. So I’m saying this is total speculation,” he said.

“The Mannings have a big contract. Omaha Productions, Peyton Manning’s company, has a big deal with ESPN. But [ManningCast] ratings have been down. The idea … for big games, having Joe Buck with Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, that’s kind of an appealing booth if you can do that. If you listen when it’s just the two of them, the Mannings, it’s pretty good, the insight that they bring. And then, they only work 11 weeks of the season right now. Let’s just say some weeks you just have Peyton, it’s a Peyton week. Some weeks it’s an Eli week.

“It’s a little gimmicky, but I actually think it could work. It would be different. And it would be pretty smart.”

Marchand also shared the idea on his own podcast earlier in the week.

Still, The Athletic insider shared that Aikman could very well return to the Worldwide Leader. Aikman, he said, “doesn’t want Tom Brady money.” The question is exactly how much of a raise Aikman could get from the $18 million per year he makes now.

For years, nearly every network pursued Peyton Manning for television. The Hall of Famer ultimately chose a smaller deal with ESPN, launching the alt-cast phenomenon with the ManningCast. As Marchand noted, that show’s viewership has fallen dramatically since its debut. The deal between ESPN and Omaha includes production on several documentaries, digital series and podcasts. But if ESPN wanted to take the partnership to a new level and close the book on the declining ManningCast, it could consider the two sharp, famous game analysts it already puts on air each season.

While Marchand emphasized that the idea was just speculation, it certainly makes sense in theory.