Mike Francesa initially picked Max Kellerman to replace Chris Russo

It’s Mike and Max Kellerman on the FAN, until Francesa decided his ratings were too good and didn’t need a partner.

When Chris Russo left WFAN, ending Mike and the Mad Dog after 19 years to launch his own channel at Sirius in 2008, the expectation was that someone would eventually fill his void. Initially, Francesa said he would try different hosts out in Russo’s chair before selecting a permanent replacement. Evan Roberts, Joe Benigno, Kim Jones and others from the station even did trial shows with Francesa. In the years and now decades since, we’ve learned Bill Simmons, Stephen A. Smith and Brandon Tierney were also among those who garnered interest from Francesa. But according to Max Kellerman, the job was his.

Kellerman joined The Bill Simmons Podcast this week ahead of launching his own show at The Ringer. And during the episode, Kellerman told Simmons he was ready to join Francesa on WFAN more than 16 years ago.

“I was supposed to go over and work with Mike,” Kellerman told Simmons. “We had come to an understanding.”

At the time, Kellerman was the midday host on WFAN’s rival station ESPN 1050. But Kellerman and the station abruptly agreed to end their relationship six months before his contract was up. And now Kellerman claims he left ESPN 1050 abruptly because a deal with WFAN to join Francesa was already in the works.

You may have noticed, the deal never came to fruition, with Kellerman and Francesa never teaming up on WFAN. Instead, Francesa remained solo and Kellerman joined ESPN Radio in Los Angeles to co-host a show with Marcellus Wiley more than a year later.

“My interpretation of what happened,” Kellerman began to explain. “I think he realized at a certain point, ‘They’re not gonna make me take a partner, why should I take a partner? Because I’m beating the hell out of the guys across town by myself.’”

And Francesa was right. He didn’t need a partner. And he continued to beat the hell out of Michael Kay, Don La Greca and whoever else ESPN New York threw at him for a decade. Francesa won every single book as a solo act against ESPN until his final one in 2019. But even though Francesa didn’t need a partner, he would have been better with one.

Ten years of talking to yourself and berating callers is exhausting. And having someone like Kellerman to play off of would have made Francesa better and kept the legendary WFAN radio host fresh. The question is whether Kellerman would have been able to endure sparring with Francesa for five hours a day, five days a week.

Who knows if Stephen A. Smith and First Take would have come calling if Kellerman was at WFAN. But as prominent as afternoon drive on WFAN is, Kellerman doesn’t seem like someone who would have been satisfied by arguing with radio callers and breaking down Yankees bullpen moves with Francesa for 10 years.