On The Pat McAfee Show yesterday, the much-loved football show host experienced a surprise of the wrong kind. He thought he’d be having a good interaction with iconic defensive end J.J. Watt, who’s been making headlines on his own as of late. However, Watt tried to take a sneaky dig at McAfee, which the latter did not appreciate.

McAfee and Co. bestowed the ‘First Team All-Time Good Guy’ title on Watt, as part of the show’s segment. Watt was honored for the way he came to defend his wife from disrespect after Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake made no effort to recognize his wife Kaeli’s contributions to soccer. Soon after, Watt spent some time with a Houston Texans fan who revealed he’d been too nervous to approach him the first time he saw Watt. But when McAfee invited the latter to deliver an acceptance speech for the title, here’s what he said:

“We got a slow news day over there on the ESPN airwaves, huh? … I mean, besides the fact that you’re getting $100 million.”

“Don’t be reading the internet like that,” McAfee told Watt. “That’s not funny. … We do not appreciate that. That is the narrative and I’m certainly taking it on the shins. The boys and I are very proud of the work that we have done.

“… We hate anytime this happens,” McAfee said of the firings. “Obviously, this is terrible. We don’t like that, but we are very honored that we are still partnering with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport for the future. It feels like this happens in corporations a lot kind of getting baptized into this. … The first time we licensed the show through ESPN, one of these happened; we got blamed for it all.”

Fans presumed Pat McAfee to be the reason why veteran analysts Ryan Clark, Karl Lavech, injury expert Stephania Bell, longtime NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, and others lost their jobs. Only a month ago, The Athletic reported that McAfee was negotiating an extension that would pay him more than $60 million per year. Per the publication, McAfee’s representative initially proposed an annual payout of $100 million.

However, it is just coincidence that ESPN let go of people while McAfee is mulling over his future. ESPN’s layoffs stem more directly from its merger with NFL Network earlier this year. Per the internal memo sent to ESPN employees, “most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition.” According to Sports Media Watch, 30 staffers had lost their jobs.

Ryan Clark joined ESPN in 2015 and has been a regular on NFL Live. Ravech has been with the network since 1993, while Pelissero began his journey in 2017.

Even though Pat McAfee is expected to make quite the money with the new extension, his actual payout might be lower. ESPN and McAfee’s contract is production-based instead of talent-based. The popular host pays to run the show and his staff. ESPN veteran Stephen A. Smith, who is also on a $100 million contract with the network, thought McAfee deserved the contract.

“He’s earned it with a multitude of things that he has done,” he said at the Barrett Media Audio Summit. “I’ve been incredibly successful in linear. He’s incredibly successful in streaming. The future is there, and I think that’s incredibly important.”