Kay Adams reflects on ‘Good Morning Football’ departure

It’s hard to believe that Good Morning Football has been on the air for almost 10 years.

The show looks a lot different now than it did back then. Out of the original four cast members, only Kyle Brandt remains on today’s iteration of the show. Each of the other three — Kay Adams, Nate Burleson, and Peter Schrager — have moved on to other gigs within sports media.

But for all three, Good Morning Football served as a springboard for other opportunities. And when Adams, the original host of the show, appeared on a recent episode of Bussin’ With The Boys, she reflected on her six-year run with NFL Network’s flagship morning program, and why she ultimately chose to depart for her own show at FanDuel in 2022.

“I felt so good about the work I did there,” she explained, per Barrett Sports Media. “I knew that I didn’t want to stay, and had an offer to stay. But I was like, ‘Man, do I really want to do this for four more [years]? Is this the right time to leave?’ And I very much feel great about when I left.”

Good Morning Football is a tough job from a work-life balance perspective. When Adams hosted the show, it began at 7 a.m. ET, meaning much of the prep work that goes into the program happened during the overnight hours. The current crew has it even worse. The show doesn’t start until 8 a.m. ET nowadays, but NFL Network moved the set from New York to Los Angeles, meaning it goes live at 5 a.m. local time.

Either way, keeping those hours can take a toll, and it’s understandable that most people want to move on at some point. For Adams, that meant launching her own show, Up and Adams, with FanDuel.

“I had felt very good about sitting with FanDuel and what that could look like,” Adams said. “At that point, Pat [McAfee] was still with FanDuel. I loved what that looked like—the support FanDuel gave him and the creative freedom.”

Still, there’s an importance to Good Morning Football that might be underappreciated. It’s on every single day in all 32 NFL facilities.

“I loved Good Morning Football and being on in every important facility is invaluable,” Adams said. “You walk in and you have this three hours—it replayed for three hours—so six hours you’re on in the most important places.”

That type of familiarity is invaluable for someone like Adams, who now frequently takes her FanDuel show on the road during training camp and interviews countless current and former NFL stars every week.