4 Big-Name ESPN Personalities Emerge As Early Front-Runners To Replace Molly Qerim On “First Take”
Molly Qerim (Photo via Instagram)
Four marquee ESPN talents have been mentioned as potential candidates to replace Molly Qerim on the popular “First Take” program.
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Last week, news broke that Molly Qerim would be leaving ESPN at the end of 2025. Qerim, who has been with the Worldwide Leader in Sports since 2006, confirmed her pending departure on social media.
Qerim is the second “First Take” talent who will have left the network in 2025. Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, who joined ESPN in 2023, was fired in July after settling a rape lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend.
With Qerim set to leave ESPN at the end of the year, Daniel Matthews of the Daily Mail listed four potential replacements to host “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith.
The four talents Matthews listed were “SportsCenter” host Shae Peppler Cornette, “NBA Countdown” and “NBA Today” host Malika Andrews, insider Peter Schrager and Chicago Bears reporter Courtney Cronin, who regularly appears on “First Take” and “Around the Horn.”
ESPN announced a contract extension for Malika Andrews last week. Schrager, who previously worked at NFL Network and Fox Sports, joined ESPN in April.
Molly Qerim Is The Latest Notable ESPN Departure
Molly Qerim (Photo via Instagram/@mollyqerim)
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Despite being the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN has seen a giant list of big-name talents depart over the last two years. Though most of the departures were budget cut decisions made by the higher-ups, it’s still stunning to see how much talent the network has lost.
In 2023, ESPN started laying off a plethora of talents as part of budget cuts. This included Suzy Kolber, Matt Hasselbeck, Jalen Rose, Steve Young, Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson, Todd McShay and Jeff Van Gundy.
Last year, legendary NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski stunned everyone by retiring as an insider to take the GM role of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies men’s basketball team. ESPN picked up his former rival, Shams Charania, to take over as their lead NBA insider.
