{"id":19660,"date":"2026-07-21T16:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19660"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:39:06","slug":"exclusive-espn-to-part-ways-with-cam-newton-as-part-of-talent-layoffs-that-also-included-ryan-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19660","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: ESPN to part ways with Cam Newton as part of talent layoffs that also included Ryan Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

ESPN is parting ways with Cam Newton, multiple sources told OutKick.<\/p>\n

The network will include Newton in a round of layoffs that could be announced as soon as Tuesday. OutKick reported Monday that NFL analyst Ryan Clark would be among the on-air employees let go.<\/p>\n

ESPN featured Newton over the past two seasons as a debate partner for Stephen A. Smith on “First Take.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cam<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

ESPN analyst Cam Newton appears on the set of “First Take” in San Francisco, Calif.<\/span> (Aaron M. Sprecher\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last season, the network elevated Newton to replace Shannon Sharpe as Smith’s primary Monday co-host during football season, the show’s highest-rated day of the week.<\/p>\n

Sources say ESPN will look for a permanent replacement for Newton on the Monday editions of the show.<\/p>\n

Newton and Smith engaged in a public back-and-forth last spring after Newton invited Jason Whitlock, whom Smith has said he “hates with a passion,” onto his podcast.<\/p>\n

Smith criticized Newton for not defending him when Whitlock cited what he described as fabrications in Smith’s 2023 memoir.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/p>\n

SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST SPORTS NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Newton responded that he didn’t challenge Whitlock because, in his view, there was “nothing to correct.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/p>\n

In any event, Smith will be without his two main analysts during the football season in Newton and Clark.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cam<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Cam Newton, Shannon Sharpe, Molly Qerim and Stephen A. Smith attend ESPN First Take at Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 8, 2024.<\/span> (Paras Griffin\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This is a breaking news story. Check back to OutKick for more news and analysis.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESPN is parting ways with Cam Newton, multiple sources told OutKick. The network will include…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}