- Expands Year-Round Portfolio, Adds Masters, PGA Championships and Wimbledon to Accompany NFL Appearances
- Sunday NFL Countdown, ESPN Super Bowl Coverage, Interviews and Features All Remain at the Forefront of his Portfolio
ESPN has re-signed award-winning national reporter Jeff Darlington to a multi-year agreement, extending his tenure with the company beyond the decade mark, having joined in 2016. Firmly established as an NFL reporter, a league he has covered since 2005, the dynamic reporter will now expand his role to regularly include ESPN’s golf and tennis coverage as part of his new agreement, with ESPN’s Masters, PGA Championship and The Championships, Wimbledon presentations continuing to be part of his portfolio each year. The NFL remains a significant aspect of his role, contributing weekly to Sunday NFL Countdown and appearing year-round across additional studio shows.
Darlington’s role at the Masters, PGA Championships and Wimbledon will extend beyond reporting, as he serves as the network’s essayist, further tapping into his storytelling strengths. For all three events, in addition to being a part of the network’s live coverage, Darlington will contribute to SportsCenter and other tournament-centric programming. The versatile reporter made his debut covering the Masters and PGA Championships in 2024 and Wimbledon in 2025.
During Darlington’s PGA Championship debut, he received significant notoriety for his reporting on Scottie Scheffler’s early morning arrest outside of the tournament entrance in Louisville, Ky. A couple months later, Darlington was covering the Miami Dolphins home-opener when the team’s star wide receiver Tyreek Hill was arrested outside the stadium hours before kickoff.
Darlington’s deep history with the NFL dates back to his days as a beat reporter. Now, in addition to his regular season show appearances, Darlington is a significant part of ESPN’s Super Bowl coverage. For the past four seasons he has been embedded with one of the competing teams, reporting across all of ESPN’s platforms, notably on SportsCenter and on Postseason NFL Countdown on Super Bowl Sunday.
The esteemed journalist earned a 2020 Sports Emmy for his feature Wide Open on former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, which chronicled both Brown’s upbringing and the end of his tenure in Pittsburgh. Darlington has also received Sports Emmy nominations for Art of Inspiration, a profile on Dak Prescott, and Hey Noah, a moving story about a young Buccaneers fan battling cancer. These in-depth features and exclusive interviews with some of the NFL’s biggest figures continue to define and elevate Darlington’s storytelling portfolio.
Darlington began his career in 2004 as a Florida Gators beat writer for the Orlando Sentinel shortly after graduating from the University of Florida with a journalism degree. A year later, he joined the Palm Beach Post, where he shifted his focus to the NFL and earned two Associated Press Sports Editors awards for breaking news. From 2006 to 2011, Darlington served as the Miami Herald’s Miami Dolphins beat reporter before moving on to the NFL Network as a national reporter from 2011-16.
A native of Seminole, Fla., Darlington is based in South Florida with his wife and two children.
Sunday NFL Countdown Returns for Week 1, Sept. 7
Darlington will help usher in the first Sunday of the season on Sunday NFL Countdown (10 a.m.–1 p.m. ET, ESPN), reporting live from Buccaneers at Falcons on opening weekend of the season. Fellow reporters Jeremy Fowler (Bengals-Browns), Dan Graziano (Giants-Commanders), Kimberley A. Martin (Ravens-Bills), Sal Paolantonio (Steelers-Jets) and Lindsey Thiry (Lions-Packers) will also contribute from game sites across the country. The dynamic group of reporters will virtually join in-studio commentators Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan, Alex Smith, Adam Schefter and host Mike Greenberg.