Peyton Manning wanted for MNF booth

ESPN needs a replacement for Jon Gruden in the Monday Night Football booth, and they have their eye on Peyton Manning.

With Jon Gruden leaving to return as head coach of the Oakland Raiders, one of the most prominent jobs is sports broadcasting is available. Monday Night Football is not the unique spectacle it once was, but being the analyst for the final game of each week’s NFL schedule is at the very least a lucrative gig with ample viewership as a centerpiece property for ESPN.

Via Richard Dietsch of Sports Ilustrated, ESPN senior vice president of event and studio production Stephanie Druley pointed to current ESPN analyst Matt Hasselbeck as a top candidate to replace Gruden next to play-by-play man Sean McDonough. Hasselbeck will call the Pro Bowl this weekend next to McDonough, in what looks to be an audition to replace Gruden, but outside candidates will be considered.

Since retiring, Peyton Manning has not made his post-playing career plans clear. But his noted, highly analytical mind for football would be an asset to a television broadcast, and Druley recognizes that. Her comments on Manning were brief but very clear, while adding that Manning is aware of the network’s interest in him but has yet to really reciprocate.

“We like Peyton Manning,”
“And we would be foolish not to talk to him.”

Manning carries the star power and television experience, in commercials ans as a host of “Saturday Night Live”, to make an easy transition to the broadcast booth. Reports of his interest in being a broadcaster have varied, with some pointing to him taking the John Elway path to a front office role or into ownership of a team.

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Tony Romo was an instant, if a bit surprising, success for CBS as the analyst next to Jim Nantz this year. Manning would be similarly challenged to find his own style as an analyst if he wanted to do it, but it’s safe to say he’d absorb himself in the role and be good at it right away.