Report: NFL Network analyst Peter Schrager in contract talks with ESPN

ESPN is in “serious talks” with NFL Network analyst Peter Schrager, per Michael McCarthy and Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. While the deal is not yet finalized, Schrager is likely to leave his perch as co-host of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” as well as Sunday pre-game appearances on FOX. 

Sources told McCarthy and Glasspiegel that Schrager would contribute across ESPN‘s daily lineup, including “Get Up,” “First Take” and “NFL Live.” Schrager would also serve as a key contributor for ESPN‘s coverage of the NFL Draft and Super Bowl week. It’s uncertain if Schrager would bring his “The Season with Peter Schrager Podcast” with him to ESPN. If the deal gets done in time, Schrager could work on ABC/ESPN’s upcoming coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft.

ESPN is gearing up for its initial Super Bowl in February 2027, going on a hiring spree of NFL on-air talent. Over the past calendar year alone, ESPN has notably hired Shannon Sharpe, Cam Newton and Jason McCourty. The latter previously served as co-host alongside Schrager on “Good Morning Football.” ESPN recently hired director Artie Kempner away from FOX Sports to serve as the new director of “Monday Night Football.”

Schrager, 42, is an original member of “Good Morning Football,” which launched Aug. 1, 2016. The show was originally based in New York but moved to NFL Network‘s studios in Los Angeles this past July.

Peter Schrager leaving NFL Network?

NFL Network did not send its popular morning show to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. Schrager said on “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand podcast” last month it was a “cost-cutting” decision from the NFL that “flattened” him. Schrager said he instead had to pay his way to the Super Bowl.

“I was humbled and flattened a little bit last year in what I still think is a questionable cost-cutting measure [by NFL Network],” Schrager said, via Awful Announcing. “We were told a week or two in advance that Good Morning Football from NFL Network was not going to be sent to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. And I said, ‘Well, that’s the first time I’ve missed a Super Bowl in 18 years… We’re an Emmy-winning show… We’re going to have no presence?’ ‘No, you guys will do it from New York.’

“I was flattened,” Schrager continued. “I could tell you, I was crushed. It was as humbling and as sobering a piece of news- and I made my case. I said, ‘Not only does it help our show, but it helps me for [the NFL] combine. Helps me for Draft.’ … I left and I took a flight back and I said, ‘I was in Vegas for 18 hours. And if I ever get the opportunity to go back to a Super Bowl, I’m going to make the most of it, the entire experience.’ And in that case, I learned you can’t rely on any of these employers. You can’t rely on some executive doing you a solid. You got to do your own thing.”