Ryan Clark says he was not laid off from ESPN. He was fired.
Clark laid out all of the reasons he believes his departure from ESPN was more of the latter and less of the former on the latest episode of his podcast “The Pivot,” which he hosts with fellow former NFL players Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor.
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“They’re using layoffs as a cover and a camouflage for what they already intended on doing,” Clark said. “But there was no cause for it. So because there was no cause for it you couldn’t just fire me, so you had to wait until the layoffs so you could camouflage it and veil it.
“If I was laid off like everybody else, it came out on Tuesday. Mine came out on Friday.”
RYAN CLARK: Former ESPN analyst breaks silence, comments on layoff in series of posts
Clark laid out the call he received that he was losing his job at ESPN as part of a podcast episode that served as an emotional reflection about his time at the sports media giant. Clark said his boss told him that they had to let him go when they did – in the middle of an “NFL Live” show – because OutKick was threatening to leak the story first.
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The former NFL safety said he believes that the connection to OutKick was a sign that someone at ESPN wanted him gone sooner rather than later. Clark said the sports media company, which is owned by conservative news outlet Fox News, was especially harsh on him in the wake of a controversy last October.
More: Inside ESPN’s decision to tell Ryan Clark he’d be laid off during live show
Ryan Clark addresses incident with Peter Schrager
Regardless of whether Clark was laid off or fired, he made clear on his podcast that he doesn’t believe that an on-air back-and-forth he had with fellow analyst Peter Schrager was the reason why. A report from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand from July 20 suggested that “an on- and off-air incident this past season” between Clark and Schrager was reportedly the moment when ESPN executives’ frustration with Clark “peaked.”
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The incident in question occurred during a “Get Up” episode after the first game of the 2025 NFL season, when Schrager came to the defense of Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb after a key dropped pass in a Dallas loss. Clark, who disagreed with Schrager’s evaluation, said his fellow analyst’s opinion was coming from “the non-player in you.”
Schrager told Clark not to “belittle” him for having an opinion that differed from the three former NFL players – Clark, as well as Dan Orlovsky and Tedy Bruschi – on the other side of the debate during the show.
Clark responded, “Peter, what I need for you to do is not get mad and let me finish.”
RYAN CLARK LAYOFF: Decision may have been influenced by argument with Peter Schrager
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On his podcast, Clark said he felt that he needed to de-escalate the seemingly tense on-air moment. When the show went to commercial break, Clark said he walked off because he was upset about what had happened. At the same time, Schrager was celebrating the segment for its potential as content.
“But I’m already knowing, the [ESPN executive] who loves you don’t love me and they make decisions here, and we just had that happen,” Clark said. “And while he’s celebrating, I’m telling him, ‘Don’t effing disrespect me like that.'”
The former ESPN analyst went on to say that some of his “Get Up” colleagues and producers said they were worried he was “going to get aggressive” after butting heads with Schrager on-air. Clark took offense to that characterization, he said on his podcast.
“The person you’ve been knowing all this time, who never did anything, who’s never had an altercation here, is going to get aggressive from over there?” Clark said. “So now you’re trying to paint this angry Black man trope of me that you know is not true, but I’m starting to feel the narrative. I feel what you’re doing.”
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Ultimately, Clark said he and Schrager were able to work through the conflict, which is part of why he doesn’t believe it was at the root of his ESPN departure.
“That was unfortunate, but that’s not why I’m fired,” he said.
Ryan Clark not alone in ESPN departure
Clark was one of various on-air personalities that ESPN let go last week. That group also included long-time MLB broadcaster Karl Ravech and former NFL Media insider Tom Pelissero.
ESPN cited its recently approved acquisition of NFL Network as one key reason for the layoffs in an internal memo obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
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“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN,” ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said in the memo. “Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.
“While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted. We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition.”
USA TODAY Sports’ Chris Bumbaca contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ryan Clark says he was fired by ESPN, not laid off, in latest podcast
