Every year, retired coaches and players like Mike Tomlin and Blake Griffin try their hand at sports media as a second career. But it’s not for everybody. Just ask former NFL star Brandon Marshall.
While still an active player, the wide receiver was already moonlighting as a TV analyst on Inside the NFL. The six-time Pro Bowl selection went on to co-star with Nick Wright on FS1’s First Things First morning show for more than a year. He seemed to be on the fast track for a Michael Strahan/Nate Burleson-type second career in non-sports morning TV.
But behind the scenes, Marshall wasn’t happy. Working on FS1’s weekday embrace debate show entailed getting up in the wee hours for a 5 a.m. production meeting, engaging in verbal combat with the opinionated Wright five mornings a week, then watching as many games as he could handle at night.
“Honestly, to wake up every single day and do that is not for me. Also the work that it takes. Even just talking sports,” Marshall told FOS editor-in-chief Dan Roberts during a recent episode of Portfolio Players. “When I was on First Things First, you had to watch all the games…I want to be good. I want to present myself well. I’m watching all the basketball games, all the football games. You’ve got to watch all these things. Especially when you’re on with somebody like Nick Wright who is (watching the games). Youre going to get exposed.”
Debating every day on TV inevitably leads to sparks. After several on-air blow-ups, Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe ended their partnership on FS1‘s Undisputed in 2023. While Bayless limped along without Sharpe, the show was never the same. Bayless left FS1 in 2024 and his show was cancelled.
Marshall recalled his own tussle with Wright. Except it came off-the-air during the show’s morning production meeting with 20 or so staffers on the call. The argument began when Marshall took exception to Wright repeatedly bashing a loafing Kawhi Leonard, despite the FS1 star failing to show up on time for the show’s morning meetings.
Marshall told Wright he didn’t respect his “take integrity” and angrily (and unsuccessfully) attempted to quit FS1. “I said, ‘I’m done with this show. I’m out of here, I dont respect it.”
During an interview with FOS, Wright offered a different version of the argument. But he admitted Marshall was right about one thing: Wright was repeatedly late for their morning meeting.
“By my recollection, what happened was I was criticizing Kawhi Leonard for what I thought was a wanton lack of leadership with the Clippers,,” Wright recalled. “Brandon, on the air, then tossed at me, ‘Well, you’re late to our morning meetings. Why are you criticizing him for being late?’ He’s not wrong. We had a set meeting every day at 5 o’clock, he said I got there at 5:05, 5:06, I got there every single day at 5:02. I don’t really know why. If I can get there every single day at 5:02, I could get there every day at 5:00. But I got there every day at 5:02. That is true. As I said, at times, I’m maybe not the easiest guy I work with.”
Marshall and Wright got over their beef and are now good friends. But it was another indicator to Marshall the time and effort he was putting into an on-air career wasn’t worth the money he was making at FS1.
Eventually, the pressure from working multiple TV gigs put Marshall into personal therapy. When the time came to renew his contract in 2021, he decided to build his own brand as an entrepreneur. Marshall later launched the I AM ATHLETE platform for athlete-driven content. While the original version of the podcast—which he co-hosted with Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder—fell apart, the brand has sustained, attracting over one million subscribers on YouTube, and the Netflix original podcast The White House with former Cowboys great Michael Irvin (which Marshall also produces).
Marshall said he hasn’t regretted his decision to leave traditional sports television. Along the way, he developed a new respect for sports TV workhorses like Wright, Bayless, Sharpe, Burleson, Strahan, Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith, who are able to handle the grind of weekday shows.
As Marshall recalled about his old schedule at FS1: “We have a production meeting for 20 at 5 a.m., then we have a two-hour show. And I’m making how much? As soon as you get off that call you have to prep for the next day. Then at night you have to watch all the stuff. When do you have time for your family? I respect everybody who is doing it. The Nate Burlesons of the world. But my dream is to represent the next wave of talent.”
