‘He Can Do Whatever He Wants,’ ‘I Would Never Bet Against Him’ — ESPN Exec Praises Pat McAfee, Credits Him With Giving College GameDay New Life

Pat McAfee has become an influential figure in football media as he continues to spread his wings across ESPN’s programs. His unconventional personality sets him apart from traditional broadcasters, but it has also made him a polarizing figure among fans.

However, one ESPN executive came to his defense on Tuesday, offering a sweeping endorsement of McAfee and describing the former NFL punter as a once-in-a-generation talent while praising his impact on College GameDay.

Mike Foss, ESPN’s executive vice president and executive editor of sports news and entertainment, spoke at Front Office Sports’ “Tuned In Summit” in New York when the discussion became about McAfee.

When ESPN promoted Foss in May, it said he would also continue collaborating closely with “The Pat McAfee Show.”

“It’s funny, I think he might be a journalist at heart,” Foss said. “I think what you find, as he puts the show together each day and something piques his interest, he’s got the Rolodex, so he has built access that a lot of people don’t have the ability to do.”

The ESPN executive took it a step further when asked to describe McAfee in a single word. “Generational,” is what he went with.

“I think he’s underrated as an interviewer. He’s almost like a Rorschach test in terms of what he is,” Foss added. “He’s not just a talent. He’s a producer. He’s an interviewer. He’s an actor.

“So I find it fascinating to see what other people’s definitions are of him, because I think it actually says more about them than him.”

Foss has watched McAfee’s rise from inside ESPN. He joined the network in 2017, launched its official YouTube channels, and now reports to Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content. McAfee, meanwhile, joined College GameDay as a full-time analyst in 2022.

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Foss said at the summit that McAfee’s influence and impact on the show can’t be denied, adding that McAfee “has given that thing a level of life and a dynamic that it never had before.”

The audience has grown over time. GameDay averaged 2.7 million viewers over 15 weeks in 2025, its most-watched regular season ever and up 22% from the year before. ESPN said the show would have been up 12% even without Nielsen’s Big Data measurement.

That momentum has carried into this fall. Front Office Sports reported Tuesday that GameDay is averaging 2.8 million viewers at the midpoint of the 2026 season, putting it on track for the most-watched year in the show’s history.

Asked by Michael McCarthy what he would say to critics of McAfee’s College GameDay appearances, Foss said, “Absolutely nothing.”

Foss also addressed McAfee’s kicking contest, in which fans can win $1 million by making a 33-yard field goal live on GameDay. McAfee had raised doubts about whether it would return this season. “I don’t know if he was ever undecided, I think he might’ve done a little theater,” Foss said.

Foss’ comments also came a day after McCarthy suggested in an opinion column that McAfee’s Super Bowl alternate broadcast could double as a tryout for ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth, where analyst Troy Aikman’s contract expires after this season.

McAfee replied on X on Tuesday that the idea wasn’t real and that there had been zero conversation about it.

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“Pat can do whatever he wants,” Foss said when asked whether he could envision McAfee calling Monday Night Football games. “If Pat wants to call football games full-time, that’s a decision that he’s gonna make, and I would never bet against him.”

Still, Foss stressed that the job isn’t open, with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and Aikman in the booth.

McAfee announced on Friday that his show would do a Field Pass alternate broadcast of the Super Bowl, along with select Monday Night Football games. ESPN said the first comes Monday, when the Washington Commanders face the San Francisco 49ers, and that Dan Orlovsky will join McAfee for the Super Bowl 61 edition on ESPNU on February 14.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.