Colin Cowherd forced to abruptly exit ‘The Herd’ because of an illness

An unspecified illness forced Colin Cowherd to abruptly leave his Monday episode of The Herd on FS1 and Fox Sports Radio during the first segment.

On the heels of arguably the biggest trade in NBA history, with the Dallas Mavericks sending Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package including Anthony Davis, Cowherd was surely eager for his Monday monologue. But it was cut short when Cowherd announced he wasn’t feeling well, sending the show to a more than seven-minute commercial break.

Colin Cowherd had to leave his show during the first segment, hopefully he feels better soon. pic.twitter.com/qkqBZldc98

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 3, 2025

“Folks, I’m gonna take a break,” Cowherd announced while breaking down the Dončić-Davis trade. “I am getting very, very sick, very, very quickly on this set. And we will return.”

The Herd returned after a long commercial break, with co-host Jason McIntyre sitting in Cowherd’s chair. McIntyre told the audience Cowherd was resting in his dressing room and would hopefully return for Tuesday’s show. The Herd’s social media account later shared an update to let everyone know Cowherd was “doing OK.”

Colin is doing OK.

Thank you for your concerns. Colin is under the weather and Jason Mcintyre is filling in.

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 3, 2025

Credit Cowherd for attempting to power through whatever illness he was dealing with, because the longtime sports radio host was clearly struggling through the first minutes of his show. No one likes getting sick, but it’s even worse when you don’t know where to get sick. It’s one thing to be sick in the confines of your own home, but feeling like something is about to happen while you’re in front of a live camera has to be a nightmare for every TV host.

Cowherd was in studio Monday after taking last Friday off and traveling to Chicago for the weekend. He recently announced plans to move The Herd to Chicago and Fox’s Big Ten Network studios, splitting time with his current setup in Los Angeles. Cowherd has more travel on his schedule in the coming days, with The Herd slated to broadcast from New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX later this week. Hopefully, Cowherd is able to recover quickly from whatever illness he’s dealing with.

Update: Toward the end of his show, Cowherd posted on social media to thank everyone for their concern and let them know he will be fine.

Thank you for all the texts, calls, and concern. Sincerely touching. Rough hour but I’ll be fine. That damn Luka trade may have just overwhelmed me.

— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) February 3, 2025