Charles Davis, former Tennessee football player, reportedly included in ESPN layoffs
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Veteran football broadcaster and former Tennessee football player Charles Davis is reportedly out at ESPN.
Andrew Marchand reported Tuesday afternoon that Davis is part of the latest round of layoffs at ESPN. Davis had covered the NFL Draft and the Combine for the NFL Network, which is now owned by ESPN.
Though he’s out at NFL Network, Davis will still be plenty busy this football season. In March, CBS announced that Davis will be the network’s lead college football analyst. He’ll be sitting in the booth alongside Brad Nessler. Davis takes over Big Ten coverage from Gary Danielson, who retired following the 2025 college football season.
NEWS: Longtime NFL Network analyst Charles Davis is expected to be let go, The Athletic has learned.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 21, 2026
Davis remains the No. 1 college football analyst on CBS' Big Ten afternoon games. https://t.co/Gsc84VHvjP
Davis, 61, was a 4-year starter for the Volunteers from 1983-86. He briefly spent time with the Dallas Cowboys in 1987.
In 1997, Davis landed his first gig as an analyst with Fox Sports South. He’s enjoyed a long broadcasting career, including stops at TBS, TNT, FOX and CBS. Davis was part of CBS’s No. 2 NFL team from 2020-24 alongside Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn.
ESPN’s latest round of layoffs have featured notable names such as Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Karl Ravech and Tom Pelissero.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
