Laura Rutledge has been the face of NFL Live since 2020, steering ESPN’s premier daily NFL show with the same precision quarterbacks envy in two-minute drills. She’s dissected plays, debated storylines, and kept the conversation sharp for a national audience five days a week. But this fall, her voice won’t just be heard from the Bristol studio. It’ll be carried through the roar of stadiums on football’s biggest nights, with millions waiting for her updates in the middle of the chaos.

ESPN recently promoted her to its permanent sideline reporter. She will join Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for all 20 NFL games this season. Happy with her recent achievement, Laura Rutledge shared a photo on Instagram with people she adores, Dan Orlovsky, Mina Kimes, Adam Schefter, and Field Yates. Her caption, “Cue lots of questions about all of our heights @espnnfl.” Well, among all of them, she is set to fly in 2025.

She’s called MNF “the pinnacle” and says she still gets chills hearing the theme music. But it’s what she told The Athletic that really shows why this move matters to her. “One of the things that has become most important is just being on the biggest events, on the biggest games, hosting, reporting, doing whatever is asked, which I do,” she said before signing her extension. “I enjoy being at those big events and being a part of that, and also being a daily presence. So wherever that can happen, that’s what’s important to me.”

Now, she has got the results of her hard work. Laura Rutledge added that ESPN has been more than just a job. “This place has meant a lot to me. I’ve been here since I was 25, and I’m 35 now. It’s almost 10 years, and it has gone by in seemingly a blink of an eye.”

Now, she’s not just part of the broadcast. She’s front and center in ESPN’s most important NFL property, with the network’s first-ever Super Bowl broadcast in 2027 squarely on the horizon.  And judging by the way she’s climbed every rung so far, she’s not planning on letting that moment pass her by. She isn’t the only one. The network is trying to make collective changes.

Laura Rutledge’s senior also gets some good news

Lisa Salters isn’t just staying on the sideline, she’s owning it. ESPN has locked her in with a fresh contract extension, ensuring the Emmy-winner remains the face and voice of Monday Night Football’s sideline for a 14th straight season. That’s not just a milestone. That’s dominance. According to ESPN PR, Salters now stands as the longest-tenured sideline reporter in MNF history, an era that’s seen the network rotate through broadcast partners, booth shakeups, and even a rights deal shuffle. Through it all, she’s been the constant. Her resume isn’t built on tenure alone.

This is a 25-year ESPN veteran whose work has cut across the network’s most demanding assignments. E:60 deep-dives. SportsCenter breaking news. NBA Finals drama. She’s done it all. Just last year, she took home the Sports Emmy for ‘Outstanding Personality/Reporter,’ a nod from peers who know the grind, the travel, and the quick pivots this job demands.

Few have her range. Salters has covered nearly every sport since joining ESPN back in March 2000, stepping into the MNF role in 2012 while simultaneously owning the NBA Finals sideline. She even made history in 2017, working an NFL and NBA game on the same Christmas Day. With ESPN’s fresh NFL equity agreement and a new NBA rights deal that keeps the Finals in-house, the timing of this extension feels strategic. It’s continuity at the exact moment the network wants stability on its biggest stages.

And those stages are only getting bigger. Salters will likely continue her Finals coverage. But February 2027 already looms as a career bookmark, when ESPN and ABC finally step into the Super Bowl rotation. In the meantime, she’ll share MNF duties with Laura Rutledge, a pairing ESPN announced alongside her extension. But make no mistake, Rutledge may be the newcomer to the sideline rotation, yet Salters is still the anchor. In an industry quick to chase the next fresh face, ESPN is doubling down on the proven one.