Richard Sherman: ESPN Offered Me Witten's Monday Night Football Job

In a new profile on NBC Sports, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman tells Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area that ESPN offered him the Monday Night Football job that ultimately went to Jason Witten.

According to Sherman, ESPN “gauged his interest” about retiring and stepping into the broadcast booth in 2018 after a torn Achilles ended his season the year before. But despite being “offered a lucrative deal to begin his broadcasting career,” Sherman opted to sign a three-year contract with the 49ers.

Witten ended up taking the job and, after struggling pretty noticeably, returned to the Dallas Cowboys this season.

Of course, Sherman’s credibility isn’t exactly sterling at the moment. Last week, he complained about Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield refusing to shake his hand prior to taking the field on Monday Night Football.

However, video emerged showing Mayfield and Sherman shaking hands, nullifying the latter’s claims about disrespect.

So Richard Sherman claims Baker Mayfield refused to shake his hand at the coin toss. This video seems to indicate otherwise: pic.twitter.com/4CgOsLKLPL

— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) October 8, 2019

Afterward, Sherman said he planned to apologize to Mayfield but didn’t mention why he made up the story in the first place.

“It’s definitely my bad,” Sherman told the Pat McAfee Show. “I never want anybody to have to deal with some stuff that they didn’t do. And so, you know, the questions that he’s gonna get and the annoying, nonsense questions about some stuff that happened in a game that’s already been done, you know, sure he’ll get an apology for that. I’ll probably reach out to him via text or social media to actually get a hold of him and talk to him … on the phone. He definitely deserves an apology, and that’s my bad on that.”

Maybe Witten will end up getting an apology as well.

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