Troy Aikman is calling what could be his last season beside Joe Buck on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” and the guessing game over who takes his seat next has a new voice. Analyst Dan Dakich believes the answer is one of the network’s busiest stars, Pat McAfee.
Dakich’s prediction comes with Aikman working the final year of the ESPN contract he signed in 2022 and no new deal in place. It also comes after McAfee said there had been no conversations about him taking the job.
Why Dan Dakich Sees Pat McAfee in the Monday Night Football Booth
Speaking on the “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich” show, the analyst minced no words once he got to the prediction itself. “I think Pat McAfee is going to replace Troy Aikman. I do.” Dakich did leave one question open. “I don’t know if he has interest in the job, but he would get big-time interest from people watching.”
Dakich also brought up how McAfee might be received. “He would get negative reviews from liberal places like Awful Announcing, etc., and social media … But he would be great. He would bring back the original group of Monday Night Football, which was Dandy Don, Howard Cosell, and Frank Gifford—a group that made Monday Night Football because they were characters. They were different. They were unique.”
Dakich was referring to the celebrated Meredith-Cosell-Gifford trio, although Gifford joined the show in 1971; Keith Jackson was part of the original 1970 booth.
However, McAfee’s plate is already a full one. He hosts “The Pat McAfee Show,” works as an analyst on “College GameDay,” and has done alt-casts of the College Football Playoff national championship. ESPN has also announced that he will lead Monday Night Football alt-casts this season in games when the ManningCast isn’t airing.
He had already weighed in on Oct. 13, replying to speculation that tied him to Aikman’s seat: “This isn’t real. There’s been zero conversation about this.”
@FOS @MMcCarthyREV This isn’t real.
Theres been zero conversation about this.
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 13, 2026
Meanwhile, Dakich raised another name he suggested would factor into the decision. “Maybe I’m giving everybody too much credit. But before you decide not to rehire Troy Aikman, you have to not only get approval from the person you’re bringing in, who I think should be Pat, but you’re also getting approval for that hire from guess who? Joe Buck.”
Buck’s own future at ESPN is settled. Like Aikman, he entered this season in the last year of his first ESPN contract, and last month he signed a six-year extension worth a reported $108 million. He and Aikman have been partners since 2002, when both were at Fox Sports.
That partnership has been in the spotlight lately. Front Office Sports reported tension between the two and an argument before a Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Rams MNF broadcast earlier this month, and speculation about Aikman’s future has swirled since.
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Aikman addressed his own status earlier this month, telling “96.7 The Ticket” in Dallas: “I’ll broadcast through this season and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot may be.”
One possible landing spot has come into view since. Aikman, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who played for Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, spoke with Jones on the field at Lincoln Financial Field before Monday night’s game, a 38-21 Cowboys win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Asked Tuesday whether he would hire Aikman for a role with the franchise, Jones told Dallas station “105.3 The Fan”: “Yes, I could and would. And so it’s that simple because I do think that much of him, with his basic command and understanding and knowledge of NFL football.”
Jones added a caveat about the timing. “And the answer is… not that necessarily we’re going to do something more direct with the team at this time. But don’t rule it out. It’s very possible.”
For now, Aikman’s ESPN contract runs through the network’s Super Bowl broadcast. McAfee is set to be part of that night as well, leading ESPN’s planned alt-cast of Super Bowl LXI.
