The Jason Witten era is over on Monday Night Football.
Witten is returning to his football career with the Dallas Cowboys, the team announced Thursday, ending his tenure as ESPN’s lead Monday Night Football analyst after one season.
With Witten’s departure, the MNF broadcast booth will undergo a third change in the last four seasons. The longtime pairing of Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden ended in 2016 with Tirico’s departure to NBC. Tirico was replaced by Sean McDonough for two seasons, and then after Gruden left for the Raiders in 2018, ESPN opted for a complete overhaul — bringing in Witten, Booger McFarland and play-by-play voice Joe Tessitore.
The MNF team was a popular target for criticism last season, particularly Witten, whose hiring by ESPN was an obvious attempt to replicate the success CBS had with his former teammate Tony Romo the previous year. While Romo was a natural in going straight from the field to the broadcast booth, Witten appeared to be learning on the fly. He lacked Romo’s charisma and self-assurance, and never seemed comfortable in the role.
In a statement Thursday, ESPN said it would decide its next course of action for MNF in the coming weeks. A change to MNF seemed likely no matter what, if even just moving McFarland from his sideline ‘Boogermobile’ to the broadcast booth.
Witten was not ESPN’s first choice to replace Gruden. The network spent much of last offseason battling with Fox Sports over the services of Peyton Manning, who chose not to enter broadcasting.
[News from Cowboys.com 2.28]
