It makes no sense for ESPN to let Troy Aikman walk away from the Joe Buck booth Bobby Burak

Troy Aikman says ESPN has not been involved in contract negotiations with him, and his departure from Monday Night Football appears likely.

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However, hours after Buck's deal was reported, industry chatter indicated that ESPN and Aikman were nowhere near a deal.

This week, Aikman addressed the situation — along with the reported altercation between him and Buck during Monday Night Football — and said ESPN has not had any contract negotiations with him. His contract expires in May 2027, after the Super Bowl in February, when he will be called up.

Aikman suggested that leaving ESPN now seems the most likely outcome.

"It looks like they're going there," he said on KTCK's The Ticket in Dallas.

As of press time, there's still a lot of mystery surrounding why ESPN doesn't want to keep Aikman. Yes, he is expensive. His current contract pays him about $18 million a year. However, ESPN told others, including Buck, Stephen E. Smith and Pat McAfee pay more.

As the NFL's lead analyst for Monday Night Football and ESPN's first Super Bowl in February, there's an argument that Aikman is the most valuable member of that group.

An industry-wide theory is that Buck wants a new partner. At the very least, Buck signs an extension before Aikman proves he's willing to work with someone else. He also apparently had no interest in using his leverage to ensure that he and Aikman stayed together.

Another theory is that ESPN wants Peyton and Eli Manning in the booth and sees this as their opportunity. However, unless the Mannings have privately agreed to such a move, which seems unlikely, their pairing with Buck seems more like wishful thinking than an actual plan.

ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcaster Jason Kless is on stage before the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Atlanta Falcons game at Lincoln Mall on September 16, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Eric Hartline/Imagn Images)

ESPN moved Jason Kless to the role of color analyst alongside Dave Pasch and Kurt Warner for its international games on the NFL Network this season. Kelse was polarizing, but effective in the role. ESPN could eventually pair him alongside Buck with his brother Travis, who is expected to retire from the NFL after this season.

On paper, this sounds interesting. The problem is, there's no indication that Travis is interested in becoming a full-time game analyst, let alone that the Kelce brothers are ready to anchor ESPN's premier NFL feature.

With Tony Romo at CBS, Troy Aikman and Greg Olsen suddenly became logical replacements

Olsen is good. Still, it's hard to see why ESPN would prefer him over Aikman, who brings more appeal, popularity and, most importantly, 25 years of chemistry with Buck.

Sure, Olsen is 18 years younger than Aikman and will probably cost less. If ESPN's goal was to get younger and cheaper, Buck -- who is just two years younger than Aikman -- would re-sign for a nine-figure deal. The extension doesn't exactly fit that philosophy.

From the outside, any alternative looks like a gamble, and one that likely won't leave ESPN with a better booth than it currently has.

This is what makes the situation so confusing.

ESPN spent five years trying to find a suitable Monday Night Football booth. After Mike Tirico's departure in 2016 and Jon Gruden's return to coaching after the 2017 season, the network used a variety of lineups, including Steve Levy, Sean McDonough, Joe Tessitore, Booger McFarland, Brian Grace and Louis Riddick.

For whatever reason, none clicked. And most of them are good for big players.

Even then there was talk in the industry that the instability and poor reception surrounding ESPN broadcasts affected the quality of games the NFL scheduled for Monday Night Football.

For what it's worth, ESPN has had a stronger slate since Buck and Aikman arrived in 2022. Other factors -- including ESPN's improving relationship with the NFL -- undoubtedly played a role as well.

Either way, ESPN has finally found a booth worthy of the NFL's top games, if not the standard for NFL broadcasts overall, and now it looks like it's ready to crack it.

Unless there's more to the story than anyone outside the company knows, it's hard to understand the logic.

Of course, skeptics have dismissed the entire saga as a negotiating tactic by ESPN. That doesn't seem to be the case. Usually, such tactics begin with actual negotiations. According to Aikman, there have not been any.

The fact that ESPN locked out its partner before a substantive conversation with Aikman suggests one of two things: the company has decided it doesn't want to keep him, or it doesn't want to.

Maybe ESPN is taking the old Bill Belichick approach with the New England Patriots: Better to move on talent a year early than a year too late. Maybe managers see a decline that viewers don't.

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