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Pat McAfee Finally Got Hired By ESPN And Twitter Was Pretty Damn Pumped About The News

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Former NFL punter Pat McAfee reveals his new role after finally getting hired by ESPN

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Pat McAfee’s one of the funniest guys around, and he’s been trying to get himself a mainstream media job for the past couple of years now after leaving the NFL. While the former punter got passed over for gigs like Monday Night Football — which he was actually pretty bummed out about — McAfee got news today that he was going to join ESPN in another capacity; calling Thursday night college football games on the worldwide leader, as Adam Schefter tweeted out this morning.

This is big-time for Pat McAfee, who has sort of bounced around for the past few years just trying to make a dent in the broadcasting world. While he had opportunities to fill in for different games, and made appearances on a few TV shows to lend some analysis and opinions, this is the first time that he’ll officially be a regular in the booth — and, naturally, he seems to be pretty stoked about the opportunity. Here’s what McAfee tweeted out following the news of his hiring at ESPN.

Following the announcement that McAfee’s officially part of the ESPN team now, Twitter was pretty damn pumped, too, with lots of people chiming in about the news being well-deserved. Take a look at what some of the fine folks on social media had to say after hearing the news.

https://twitter.com/ryanh2489/status/1155858081294802945?s=20

If nothing else, Pat McAfee brings an actual personality to the broadcast booth that resonates with a younger audience. Plus, the dude’s hilarious AF and has a comedic flare that’s unmatched by anyone in sports media right now. And, while McAfee’s “only” getting a regular spot on the Thursday night broadcast, something tells me that it’s ESPN’s way of testing things out with the former NFL player, setting him up for possible promotion to either primetime Saturday night games or, at some point, moving him into the Monday Night Football booth in a few years — which would be wise if ESPN can make a big splash like, say, hiring Peyton Manning at some point.

Obviously, Thursday night college football games aren’t always the best matchups, but Pat McAfee is sure to draw an audience, so this is a solid win for everyone involved.