Earlier this season, Joe Buck signed a sizeable six-year, $108 million contract extension with ESPN to remain the play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football. Analyst Troy Aikman is in his last year with ESPN and has yet to sign an extension, and as the duo has been together since 2002, speculation about MNF’s future remains open.

In an opinion piece for Front Office Sports, Michael McCarthy questioned whether Pat McAfee could be the next potential candidate for the MNF booth. But the thought was quickly shut down Tuesday when McAfee responded via X, “This isn’t real. Theres been zero conversation about this.”

McCarthy’s article angled McAfee’s new ESPN alternative Super Bowl broadcast this season and his new Monday Night Football Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN2 as an opportunity for McAfee to succeed Aikman based on success.

The broadcast will cover multiple games this season, starting with the Washington Commanders vs. the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 19.

“There was a little bit of a pipe dream that maybe if we have a little bit of success with this field pass with college, maybe with the relationship that ESPN has with the NFL that we could do some field passes for NFL games, ‘Monday Night Football’ games,” McAfee said via the New York Post.

Although McAfee dismissed the idea for now, he still holds a lucrative $60 million deal with ESPN, and Aikman has yet to claim his spot in the MNF booth contractually after this season. Both Buck and Aikman left Fox in 2022 to join Monday Night Football with ESPN, but the duo’s longevity is in question, as Buck has a deal and Aikman does not.

ESPN executives have yet to announce anything regarding Aikman’s unsettled situation; it will be interesting to see whether McAfee’s ambition lands him a role on another ESPN show.