Pat McAfee Bashed by ESPN Legend Over 2 Polarizing Words

The Pat McAfee-ESPN marriage has been the rollercoaster some expected since the former NFL punter signed a multi-year contract in May to bring "The Pat McAfee Show" to the network.

During his show on Thursday, August 29, McAfee explained to his audience that he'd missed the previous day due to a town-hall event "with a bunch of journalists" on ESPN's campus.

"I'll tell you what, I love the people that are running ESPN right now," McAfee said. "I loved the re-org(anization). It was a blast all the way up until he said 'journalistic standards.'"

At which point, McAfee and his entire production crew broke out into 20 seconds of manufactured laughter.

Legendary, award-winning NFL reporter Ed Werder, who was let go by ESPN in May after 26 years , took exception to the segment and aired out his grievance on social media.

"People in our business who have journalistic standards and still consider them important deserve respect — not to have you mocking them," Werder wrote on X.

Some of Werder's 240,000 X followers were quick to chime in on the polarizing topic of integrity in a sports media landscape rapidly shifting toward entertainment content.

"Thanks for saying this," one fan commented . "Mocking integrity is weird behavior."

"Pat McAfee is not a journalist," another wrote . "He is mocking sports media and journalists for saying he’s disrespecting rules that literally do not apply to him. Dude runs a sports podcast with his friends, he can do whatever he wants."

Another added , "Cash money over ethics is the order of the day. Troubled times indeed for old school OGs like you and me."

The 37-year-old's deal with ESPN is for "five years and around $85 million," according to The New York Post .

McAfee left his FanDuel deal reportedly worth $120 million over four years; however, ESPN's robust media exposure was widely considered to be part of the equation.

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