Bettis gets benched by ESPN
Hall of Famer and NFL analyst Jerome Bettis is the latest to fall victim to the massive round of job cuts at ESPN.
An ESPN source told The Washington Post that all employees were informed of their layoffs at the same time and that some have chosen to complete assignments at, for instance, the NBA and NFL drafts.
The network chose, though, to let the employees share their status publicly rather than announcing just who was being laid off.
Among the biggest NFL names to emerge are Trent Dilfer, Danny Kanell and Ed Werder.
Bettis has not commented on his status, which was first reported by the Sporting News’ Michael McCarthy.
Others laid off include Jayson Stark, Britt McHenry, Marc Stein, Andy Katz, Jade McCarthy, Jaymee Sire, Chris Hassel, Jay Crawford and Sara Walsh, who learned of her layoff the day after she had returned to Bristol, Conn., from maternity leave.
Bettis, a former Pittsburgh Steeler known as “The Bus,” joined the network in 2013 and appeared on “NFL Live,” “SportsCenter” and ESPN Radio.
Before that, he worked for NBC Sports and the NFL Network.
Bettis capitalized on his popularity by moving right from the Steelers’ Super Bowl XL victory into broadcasting.
He joined NBC’s “Football Night in America,” but was replaced by Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison in 2009.
So far, about three-quarters of the 100 laid-off employees have gone public with the news.