Peyton Manning, Greg Olsen emerge as the potential Troy Aikman replacement

Published November 4, 2026 09:24 AM As the clock continues to tick toward a potential, if not inevitable, breakup between ESPN and Troy Aikman, a replacement will be needed on Monday Night Football if/when Aikman leaves.Greg Olsen’s name previously had emerged as a clear favorite, and for good reason. He’s done the job at the highest level, and he has won multiple Emmys for it.But there’s already a big name who is in the Disney tent, and who already works on most Monday nights: Peyton Manning.Via Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic recently characterized Olsen as the favorite in a Q&A column — but also planted a flag as to the Peyton possibility.Beyond putting someone in the booth who would perhaps instantly become the best analyst of them all, the move would give both ESPN and Manning an exit ramp from the ManningCast, which no longer moves the needle for ESPN2. The question becomes whether Manning wants to do it, and whether ESPN would compensate him at market level. With his long-time rival Tom Brady getting $37.5 million per year from Fox, Manning would want to be close to that. Or maybe to surpass it.That simple fact makes it far more likely that, when the dust settles, it’ll be Olsen and not Manning as the Aikman replacement.