It looks like former Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera will once again be working on Sundays this fall as the longtime player and coach is auditioning for a job as an NFL analyst for ESPN.
Rivera appeared on NFL Live on ESPN to discuss the NFL offseason. He talked about his former rivals, the New York Giants, not franchise tagging running back Saquon Barkley. Rivera also suggested his former team, the Commanders, draft LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels in the upcoming draft.
Washington Post reporter Nicki Jhabvala reported that this was an audition for a gig with ESPN next season.
Ron Rivera has been part of the NFL in some shape or form since 1984 when the Chicago Bears took the Cal linebacker in the second round of the draft. He played nine seasons in the Windy City before retiring after the 1992 campaign.
In 1997, he became a quality control coach for the Bears and became an NFL assistant for his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Diego Chargers. In 2011, the Carolina Panthers hired him as their head coach.
Nine seasons in Carolina led to the Commanders’ head coaching gig in 2020, a position he held until the end of the 2023 season.
Rivera was 26-40-1 in Washington to bring his career record to 102-103-2. But the coach who brought the Panthers to the Super Bowl in 2016 only made a single playoff appearance in the nation’s capital, winning the brutal NFC East in 2020 with a 7-9 record.
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