Plus Pages

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

ESPN Rehires Longtime NFL Reporter Ed Werder


Ed Werder was one of the big names involved in ESPN's mass layoffs two years ago. The company announced Monday he has been brought back to cover Dallas sports for a variety of programs, such as SportsCenter and NFL Live.

Despite being laid off, Werder, 59, still had a contract with ESPN that dissuaded him from taking another formal job in the sports media industry. He began a podcast on his own and remained active on Twitter, but he's officially back with the network now.

Ed Werder
Werder will rejoin ESPN this month as a Dallas-based bureau reporter for SportsCenter and studio programming, covering various sports from Dallas, including the Cowboys, a team Werder first began reporting on in 1989. Werder had previously covered the NFL for ESPN from 1998 to 2017.

“I am very much looking forward to being back on the team where I feel I most belong,” said Werder, who is scheduled to report from Cowboys camp in Oxnard, Calif. throughout the week. “I’m grateful for this opportunity and thankful to all the people who have made it a reality. It will be tremendous to again be covering great stories and events with an ESPN press credential.”

Raised in Longmont, Colo., Werder graduated from University of Northern Colorado in 1982 and worked mostly in newspapers during the 1980s and 1990s with stops at the Daily Camera (Boulder, Col.), The National, the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News, where Werder was recognized for a series of reports chronicling the deteriorating relationship between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and then-head coach Jimmy Johnson.

Overall, Werder has covered the NFL for nearly 40 years and in 2017 was honored with the prestigious Dick McCann Award presented by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).

“We’re excited to bring Ed back in this new role, where he can continue his outstanding work on the NFL and spread his wings in other sports as well,” said ESPN Executive Vice President, Event and Studio Production & Executive Editor Norby Williamson. “To have a journalist with Ed’s experience and storytelling ability join our incredible group of bureau reporters makes us immediately stronger.”

No comments:

Post a Comment