Friday’s spirited episode of Pat McAfee’s daily show, “The Pat McAfee Show,” drew mixed reactions, but Ryan Leaf’s position is clear.
Leaf, a former college football analyst for ESPN, X’s post claims McAfee is said to have been “high” for 80% of his TV appearances!! [sic]”
The comments came in response to a post from quarterbacks coach Quincy Avery, who criticized McAfee’s wild show last week in Dublin, Ireland, in which McAfee downed beers during a broadcast from JR Mahon’s Pub.
“Doesn’t anybody think it’s wild that someone gets drunk on ESPN and everyone acts like it’s cool?” Avery wrote to X. Regarding Friday night’s McAfee broadcast.
Leaf joined in the next day, appearing to criticize McAfee for how much he was being paid for his daily show on ESPN.
It is unclear where Leaf got the information on which he based his social media claims.
The issues between Leaf and McAfee are not limited to Friday’s show.
Leaf, the No. 2 overall pick in 1998, claimed last week that the popular talent was partly to blame for ESPN’s decision to fire him midway through the 2023 college football season.
Appeared on “Outkick Hot Mic” Leaf claimed McAfee was involved in his firing after a dispute with him and Kirk Herbstreit over comments he made about conference restructuring.
“The coordinating producer called me and I said, ‘This decision is not yours. Who makes this decision?’ He said, ‘Someone higher up in the hierarchy than me.’ I said, ‘I need someone higher up in the hierarchy to call me,'” Leaf alleged. “So they called me and by that point I had already checked with the people involved to see why this was happening. So when I got on the phone with them, I was just like, ‘Yeah, I think this is fine. You and I don’t have the same values, so I think this is probably the right decision.'”
“I get it. The $85 million people (the McAfee contract) are threatening you. You have to comply. For my part, I understand that.”
In an interview last Tuesday, he also called McAfee and Herbstreit “overly sensitive” and “narcissistic.”
