After securing a Hall of Fame career with Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, the ex-NFL star Shannon Sharpe has been entertaining the sports world since 2016 as a prominent figure on Fox Sports 1’s ‘Undisputed’ alongside Skip Bayless.
However, Sharpe decided to put an end to the remarkable journey with an emotional farewell after reaching a buyout agreement with the company, leaving no indication of strife or ill-will with his co-host and announced taking a brief hiatus from his television duties following the departure alongside a subtle hint for his potential next move.
Shannon Sharpe to return to the morning show after a brief vacation
The three-time Super Bowl winner, Shannon Sharpe had an emotional breakdown while saying goodbye to his co-host after closing for a seven-year run in the show.
While Uncle Sharpe refrained from divulging specific details, he dropped some intriguing hints regarding his potential next duty in his latest tweet by sharing pictures of himself walking in the streets of Los Angeles wearing a grey tracksuit along with pink Nike sneakers and a black and gold crossbody bag with a cryptic caption.
“I’m enjoying my early morning workouts, late breakfast, and break from wearing a suit every morning……. but just for a little while. I’ll be back on TV in the morning’s soon.”
l'm enjoying my early morning workouts, late breakfast, and break from wearing a suit every morning… But just for a little while. I'll be back on 📺 in the morning's soon. 🤫 pic.twitter.com/yLackSJLsB
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) June 19, 2023
The 54-year-old analyst dropped more hints about his future duty sharing several hashtags online including ‘#brunch,’ ‘#talkshow,’ and ‘#podcasting during his podcast, ‘Club ShayShay’.
Why did Sharpe Left ‘Undisputed’?
The iconic NFL star’s decision to leave FS1 was actually a predictable move for any long-time fans of the show as the ongoing tension between him and Skip has been quite visible over time.
Fans could predict something was wrong between the two hosts when Bayless made a controversial post about the Buffalo Bills’ young safety Damar Hamlin’s sudden collapse on the field in a match against the Cincinnati Bengals, taking digs at the potential decision of the league to postpone the game before the official announcement of the postponement was on the way.
“No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant”, the tweet said.
The NFL world didn’t like the tweet at the crucial time and bashed the host for making controversial comments and Sharpe stayed at home the following morning to stay out of his co-host’s controversy, however, he revealed following his next appearance that he was hoping Skip would delete the post but nothing like that happened.
Another potential reason behind the breakup was revealed by Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post. The source said the ex-Fox Sports star had complaints regarding not getting equal opportunity to decide on a topic saying, “unquestioned leader on the show, but wanted to be an equal with Bayless in the program’s topic selection.”
The source also marked Shannon’s love for the NBA legend LeBron James as another reason for the former Broncos star to leave the show as he doesn’t like hearing criticism of James while his fellow analyst publicly takes digs at the basketball icon.
“Another element that seemed to bleed over between the two was that Sharpe is close with LeBron James, while Bayless has been a hard grader of James’ performance over the years.”
While Skip’s hate for LeBron is visible, his immense love for the NFL GOAT Tom Brady is even more visible and he even didn’t halt back from taking personal jabs at his former co-host for the sake of the love.
The ex-NFL star didn’t voice any hate or disappointments with his fellow analyst, albeit he earlier liked some tweets against him that triggered fans and pundits to come to these equations.
Sharpe’s contributions to the world of sports media are immeasurable and fans will undoubtedly miss his sharp wit as well as unique perspective while waiting for his next move.
