Some of the most prominent voices synonymous with ESPN have been laid off this week. Cam Newton is one of them, saw a long future with the cable network. He even had a contract extension to believe so, but was caught in this unexpected turn of events.

“I was willing to work, and I wanted to work. I wanted to get the experience,” Newton said on 4th&1 with Cam Newton. “So now I can take all that intel and bring it back to what I own outright.”

ESPN cutting off ties with Newton is sadder considering they had extended his contract in August, 2025. This decision to let him go comes in less than a year after both parties foresaw a future. 

Newton joined in 2014 and became a regular face on First Take. He then took over former tight end Shannon Sharpe's role at ESPN and was offered a contract extension last year.

“That's unfortunate because yes, your confidence or your image takes a hit. It's like, "Dang, what happened to your boy?” No,” he said in the July 22 episode of 4th&1 with Cam Newton. 

Despite the change, Newton, the former Carolina Panthers quarterback, does not harbour any harsh feelings towards ESPN. 

“ESPN was good to me, and it's still good to me because the emails that I’ve garnered, the relationships, the phone numbers, those relationships is something that I can take with me and apply it in any type of capacity,” the 2015 MVP said. 

Newton, 37, is one of the other big names who were laid off.  Some of the others who have been laid off are: 

1. Ryan Clark, analyst and former NFL safety
2. Cam Newton, First Take contributor and former NFL MVP
3. Charles Davis, analyst, still associated with CBS Sports though
4. Stefania Bell, ESPN injury expert
5. David Lloyd, longtime SportsCenter anchor 

From the face of ESPN to nothing: what caused this decision?

ESPN let go of senior NFL insider Tom Pelissero and Karl Ravech, who was their on-air voice for 33 years. This mass layoff comes after ESPN, whose parent company is Disney, acquired NFL Network and NFL RedZone and sold a ten percent stake in exchange. 

NFL Network is reportedly driving this move.

“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN,” Front Office Sports reported on July 21. “...We have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.”

The last time ESPN conducted a mass layoff was over three years ago. While Newton did not foresee this happening, he is moving ahead nonetheless. 

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Written by

Akanksha Biradar