ESPN is preparing to launch a new Monday studio show covering both college football and the NFL, and it will feature several prominent names. As per Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, Michael Eaves will host the new show, with Booger McFarland and Herm Edwards as analysts:
NEWSLETTER+: ESPN's new Monday football show will feature Booger McFarland, Herm Edwards & Michael Eaves, The Post has learned.https://t.co/qFKgpbNDti
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 28, 2023
Marchand notes that the show does not have a name yet, that it will be overseen by ESPN executive editor and head of event and studio production Norby Williamson, and that it replaces NFL Rewind in the 3 p.m. ET slot (before the 4 p.m. NFL Live). Last season, NFL Rewind started by featuring host Wendi Nix and analysts Jeff Saturday and Damien Woody. They altered that lineup after Saturday’s November departure for the NFL.
NFL Rewind launched in 2019 as a rebranding of what had been NFL Primetime, with the Primetime brand moving to ESPN+ and featuring Chris Berman and Tom Jackson; NFL Rewind kept a similar format, but was initially hosted by Trey Wingo alongside John Fox and Tim Hasselbeck. Nix took over the host role there in 2020 after Wingo’s ESPN departure. She and Woody remain with ESPN (she also hosts College Football Live, while he appears on Get Up, First Take, NFL Live, SportsCenter and more). Saturday left ESPN to take over as the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach in November, but has been recently rumored as a possibility to rejoin the network. But one of the spots he was featured is now no more.
Meanwhile, this new show is notable for all of McFarland, Edwards, and Eaves. Eaves has been at ESPN since 2015 after time at Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket. At ESPN, he’s worked on SportsCenter, NBA Countdown, and more. He’s hosted SportsCenter from events including The Masters, and has also reported from both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
As per the analysts, McFarland and Edwards are both notable for significant experience on both college football and the NFL. McFarland started with the company in 2014 as a SEC Network analyst, then shifted to ESPN and ABC college football coverage in 2017. He then headed to Monday Night Football in 2018 (on the infamous BoogerMobile) and 2019 (as a normal in-booth commentator). He’s worked on both NFL and CFB shows since 2020. Meanwhile, most of Edwards’ time with ESPN and in the coaching ranks has been NFL-focused, but he left the network in 2018 to take over as the head coach at Arizona State and held that role through last fall before returning to the Worldwide Leader as both a CFB and NFL analyst.
It’s interesting to see Edwards teamed with McFarland on a show specifically covering both college football and the NFL. Coverage of those sports has often been pretty segmented at ESPN, apart from general-purpose SportsCenter and discussion shows like First Take and Get Up, with most football-specific shows focused on one or the other. But the personalities involved here certainly are capable of talking about both of these levels of the game. We’ll see if they find an audience for that.
