Pat McAfee is the new face of ESPN these days.The former Indianapolis Colt retired from the NFL in 2017 and quickly became a major sport media personality.McAfee’s power and influence has grown enormously over the past few yearsGettyHe built the The Pat McAfee Show into a powerhouse, eventually partnering with ESPN while expanding into WWE as both a performer and commentator.However, the Worldwide Leader has been slow to recognize McAfee Mania.During their NFL free agency coverage last year, ESPN decided to move McAfee’s show over to ESPN2 while it produced it’s own special programming, including a special edition of SportsCenter, to cover what’s traditionally known as the ‘legal tampering’ period of free agency.This year, however, the network will have McAfee front and center from his Thunderdome studio in Indianapolis to cover one of the most hectic events on the NFL calendar. During Tuesday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show, fans learned that ESPN will allow McAfee to anchor its NFL free agency coverage on Monday 9 March.The eponymous host will get to interview Peter Schrager, Dan Orlovsky and plenty of other ESPN personalities while the top free agents are negotiating contracts for the 2026 NFL season.“That Monday is electric. It is electrifying to see what people are doing,” McAfee said.“ESPN NFL people, which is a department, ESPN NFL. They didn’t think we would be able to handle it last year, so they counter-program us on ESPN2,” McAfee went on.“They tell us immediately, ‘You’re not allowed to have Schefter, he’s with us,’ all of this. It’s like, OK, we’ll see how this goes for you guys. Murder scene, by the way, not only because we’re on ESPN, which is what everyone has on, but also because we’ve lived this life too, somehow. I know you guys created the game, but we’ve also been in this whole thing? So there were some nice conversations between the last free agency frenzy and the next free agency frenzy, where we’re going to work together. Don’t we think this would be a good idea.”“We are considering it an honor to be able to represent for the entirety of ESPN on this,” McAfee added.Pat McAfee is about to be front and center for ESPN on one of the busiest days on the NFL calendarGettyThe development is yet another feather in the cap for McAfee. ESPN ceding one of its busiest news days to McAfee to cover his testament to his popularity and pulling power, across both television and social media.With that said, both McAfee and ESPN will be hoping to avoid a recent mishap when the show got duped by an AI photo of an NFL prospect.Nevertheless, McAfee goes from strength to strength in his new career as a broadcaster, despite being left frustrated with ESPN’s planned broadcasting changes for next year’s Super Bowl.However, as if dominating YouTube, sports television and WWE weren’t enough, the retired NFL punter is set to embark on a whole new career.McAfee is set to have a four-episode arc on Tulsa King, the latest show on Paramount+.But his biggest Hollywood appearance to date will be starring as a Drill Instructor in the film The Mosquito Bowl.It follows the football game played between two regiments of Marines at Guadalcanal just after the Pearl Harbour attack.The movie began filming in Queensland, Australia and has a 2026 release window.Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.