Meet the new team, same as the old team.
On Tuesday, ESPN announced that their entire Sunday NFL Countdown team would be back for the 2022 season, their sixth working together (I think the math might be wrong on that, since Bruschi only joined Countdown in 2019).
The lineup of host Sam Ponder and analysts Tedy Bruschi, Matt Hasselbeck, Randy Moss, and Rex Ryan will all return this fall, along with reporters Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter.
Additionally, Ponder, Bruschi, Hasselbeck, Moss, and Mortensen have had new multi-year contracts announced. Schefter also got a new contract, which was announced in March, while the release noted that Ryan “is in the midst of a multi-year contract.”
The future of Moss at ESPN was somewhat murky earlier this year, with Amazon reportedly circling, but last month, it was reported that he’d be staying at the company, though he’d be leaving the Monday Night Football pregame show. ESPN’s release today notes that “Moss will now be primarily focused on Sunday NFL Countdown.”
Ryan was hired by ESPN in 2017 for a role on Countdown, the same year Ponder was tabbed as the show’s new host. Hasselbeck joined Countdown in 2016, replacing Mike Ditka, while Moss also joined that year and Bruschi (as mentioned above) joined in 2019.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.