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ESPN releases statement following Jason Witten’s decision to leave Monday Night Football for Dallas Cowboys
If you missed the big news of the day, Jason Witten has announced he is leaving ESPN and his Monday Night Football lead analyst role after only one season in the booth to make a return to the NFL.
Witten will be returning to Dallas to play for the Cowboys for his 16th professional season. The Cowboys are giving Witten a one-year, $3.5 million contract to return to the field next season. Following this shocking news, Witten offered up this comment on why he made this surprising decision:
“The fire inside of me to compete and play this game is just burning too strong. This team has a great group of rising young stars, and I want to help them make a run at a championship. This was completely my decision, and I am very comfortable with it. I’m looking forward to getting back in the dirt.”
ESPN has responded with a statement of its own and outlined a timeline for its next step in terms of deciding what to do with the Monday Night Football booth moving forward. ESPN has now lost two consecutive lead analyst to the NFL as Jon Gruden left the network to coach the Raiders a year ago.
“We thank Jason for his many contributions to Monday Night Football and to ESPN over the past year and wish him continued success. We have seen many former coaches and players go into broadcasting before eventually returning to the game they love, so we understand Jason’s desire to return to the Dallas Cowboys. In the coming weeks we will determine our MNF plans for the 2019 season.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com