Danny Parkins on First Things First Credit: First Things First on FS1
By Brendon Kleen on

This week, FS1’s nomadic new host, Danny Parkins, learned the first lesson of Fox Sports: There’s never too much Dallas Cowboys.

With Parkins seated alongside the trio that has turned First Things First into the best sports debate show around, circling back to the A-block they had just used two hours prior, the biggest NFL news of the year hit: Micah Parsons was headed to Green Bay.

Through sheer luck, Parkins got to be on-air to break it down. Added to a clumsy third hour of the program (dubbed First Things First: OT) after his FS1 morning show, Breakfast Ball, was canceled in July, Parkins is now sitting in the fourth chair in clips that are soaring to virality, with 865K and counting views on YouTube and 541K on X.

It was likely the best chance the former Chicago radio host will get for a significant on-air moment for a while, because FS1 isn’t doing him any favors.

Parkins, once praised by Fox chieftain Colin Cowherd as the best local sports radio host in America, fulfilled his destiny and joined FS1 last fall. Moving east to host a hastily crafted New York-based morning show with Craig Carton and Mark Schlereth, Parkins never quite hit his stride. Despite good chemistry, each of the three hosts appeared to have a different concept of what the show should be. Parkins’ lane as a goofy takester never vibed with Carton’s knucklehead act or Schlereth yelling at the sky.

Yet, as Fox’s chosen son, with Cowherd’s blessing and a longtime friendship with FTF star Nick Wright, Parkins became the only host to survive FS1’s decision to overhaul its daytime lineup this summer. Having relocated to the Big Apple for the job, FTF was the only home for him.

So FS1 extended FTF for the third time in three years, with Parkins joining for the final hour. After Wright, Kevin Wildes, and Chris Broussard regurgitate the A-block to start the “OT” edition at 5 p.m. ET, Parkins took the reins. This week, he was flanked by longtime FTF contributor and former Green Bay Packers star Greg Jennings, as well as retired NFL lineman Willie Colon.

It is once again a strange fit for Parkins. Not yet a national brand as a host, the “OT” hour forces Parkins to steer the ship in what so far feels like a junior varsity version of Good Morning Football or NFL Live.

Didn’t the failed Breakfast Ball experiment prove that people weren’t tuning in just to see Parkins? The initial excitement that he could play off his buddy Wright in the uniquely entertaining playground that he, Wildes, and Broussard have built on FTF has become another own goal for FS1.

During “Predictions Week” on FTF, the “OT” hour has seen Parkins offer his NFL awards and playoff selections, with Jennings and Colon reacting. If this continues, nobody will be surprised if FS1 shuffles the deck all over again in a year or so. The “unknown host plus retired athletes” formula is already being done on any radio, television, or podcast network we can watch. And at least those other shows might offer years of chemistry, and aren’t awkward appendages to existing hits.

FS1 knows this, which is why it finally tried something more innovative by partnering on Wake Up Barstool with Dave Portnoy and Co., starting next week.

There is a place in the national media for Parkins. It’s no wonder Cowherd and Wright like him. He is in their lineage: a studious take artist who doesn’t take himself too seriously. That endgame could well be as a full-timer on FTF. FS1 won’t mint him as a national voice by hiding him in the final hour of an existing property (while, by the way, going up against Pardon the Interruption) unless the news cycle keeps blessing Parkins with generation-defining NFL transactions between 5 and 5:20 p.m. ET.

About Brendon Kleen

Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.

View all posts by Brendon Kleen