Who’s The Next Voice of Monday Night Football?

Monday Night Football will have new announcers this hopefully upcoming season after ESPN announced that Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarlane would not be returning, and that the replacement would come from within ESPN.

First off I am perfectly fine with this, as a play-by-play broadcaster for my day job I never like seeing people get demoted and lose a dream job but I also understand it’s part of the business. But I just could never enjoy Tessitore’s call of a game. It always seemed so arrogant and conceited. But then again that’s kind of who he is.

Booger McFarlane, well he just was not good for the role. He was always put in a tough spot with this gig. First it was in a makeshift three man booth with the Booger Mobile.

And then it was just him and Tessitore in the booth alone. Look I’m not here to roast Booger, analyst work is tough and it is not for everyone, you gotta be quick on your feet and Booger just isn’t. He’s probably better off in a studio where he has time to think of a response or at least have a producer tell him how to respond. At least he gave us this golden biscuit about Kelvin Benjamin.

So who will replace Tessitore and Booger? ESPN announced that it will promote someone from within after they failed at getting Peyton Manning, Al Michaels and Tony Romo. And ESPN needs to get this one right, their contract with the NFL to carry MNF is up after the 2021 season and I’m sure the NFL has already been looking at other possibilities. So let’s break down the in house options for ESPN.

Play-by-Play

Steve Levy

Steve Levy is apparently the front runner for the job according to the all powerful “Sources”

He currently calls college football on Saturdays and does a good job handling the bigger afternoon games. He also is known by our generation as a guy who anchored SportsCenter and gave us the classic “bulging disc” line

Dave Pasch

Another one of ESPN’s college football broadcasters and also a basketball guy. He’s known for being Bill Walton’s chaperone and while he calls a good game in a professional manner he has a pretty good sense of humor to him as well.

Jason Benetti

I love Jason Benetti, he is an incredible story. He has cerebral palsy and is the voice of the Chicago White Sox and is fantastic. He also works for ESPN as a college football play-by-play broadcaster. When you think that you have a tough job, just go ahead and watch the video below and remember this guy does this every few Saturdays a year. Incredible stuff, and to think I complain about long bus trips!

Chris Fowler

I don’t really want this one to happen but it’s apparently a possibility that ESPN will move Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit from their top college football pairing to MNF.

These two are made for college football, and moving them to MNF I feel would be a big disservice for ESPN, keep them in the college game.

Myself

I’m not an employee of ESPN. But if they are looking to save money in these trying times, I’m a good source of affordable labor in this industry and it would give me something to do on Monday’s.

Analyst

Dan Orlovsky

Orlovsky would be a poor man’s Tony Romo for ESPN but he has emerged as a top candidate for the MNF analyst job. I actually really like Orlovsky, he consistently stuck up for Brady last season when the Patriots offense was struggling diving deep into what Brady see’s/anticipates versus what the receiver is doing and why there was a disconnect.

Can he bring this into the booth in real time though? That’s what makes Romo so special, he’s able to tell you what’s going to happen before the play because he knows what a quarterback is looking for. Orlovsky I think would be a smart choice.

Louis Riddick

I really like Louis Riddick, I love listening to this guy talk football because he’s done it all. He played in the NFL and he has been a scout. Is he the greatest personality? No, but while personality is great think of someone like John Smoltz, not exactly a comedian but is considered to be a great analyst because he shows you something that you didn’t notice before or teaches you something about the game and I think Riddick can do that.

He was all over Mahomes becoming a super star, the guy knows his stuff, put him in the booth, he’s sharp.

Pat McAfee

Let’s give him credit where credit is due, he is a non stop party and has a good time. He did a respectable job.

But for me personally, I am out on this idea. I don’t need MNF to turn into the Pat McAfee show. Yes he is entertaining but personally it gets old pretty quick, and I am all for “making special teams great again.” But his frat boy demeanor and constant yelling doesn’t equal entertainment or a quality broadcast to me.

Brian Griese

Already works with Steve Levy on Saturday’s which makes him a tempting option right off the bat. Greise really doesn’t bring anything new or exciting to the table in terms of breaking down the game at an elite level, or is a non-stop entertainment machine but he obviously meshes well with a front runner for the play-by-play position. And that’s important, Jon Gruden was a fantastic MNF analyst and Sean McDonough is one of the best play-by-play talents in the world. Just because two guys are very good at their jobs doesn’t mean that they will co-exist well in the booth, it takes chemistry and Greise has that with Levy.

Jay Cutler

This is an outside chance here, but Cutler was signed on with Fox to be an analyst after his Bears career ended but then ended being the Dolphins QB for a season. Do I think he would care enough to do a good job? No. But maybe there’s the off chance he could be the personality we all loved in short spurts on his now ex-wife’s reality TV show.

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Connor Ryan (@connoryan68)

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