For Damien Woody, football has never simply been a job. It has been a lifelong conversation. So when the news about ESPN showing him the door broke, questions were raised about his next potential plans. But as it seems, while ESPN may have moved on from Woody, he isn’t moving on from football.

“At the end of the day, I just want to talk ball,” Woody said to The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand.

Damien Woody had a decade-long career in the NFL (1999-2010), representing the New England Patriots, Detroit Lions, and New York Jets. He was a vital starting piece of the early Patriots dynasty, winning Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII under HC Bill Belichick and alongside QB Tom Brady.

But following his NFL career, Woody transitioned into broadcasting. In August 2011, he joined ESPN as an NFL analyst, and over the years, the former NFL offensive guard has made multiple appearances on shows like SportsCenter, NFL Live, and Get Up.

However, according to the latest buzz, ESPN has parted ways with Damien Woody after a 15-year tenure with the network. But unlike some colleagues who were abruptly pulled off the air, Woody’s exit is due to ESPN choosing not to renew his contract.

Woody has the option to remain on the air through the end of August 2026 rather than being terminated immediately, and he seemingly has opted to fulfill that obligation by his choice.

“Being at ESPN for 15 years, it’s been an absolute joy,” Woody further said.

But what lies after that in Woody’s broadcasting career remains to be seen. Woody is still part of the broad ESPN talent cuts that include other sports figures such as Cam Newton, Bart Scott, Tom Pelissero, Ryan Clark, Charles Davis, and Karl Ravech.

The primary catalyst for the layoffs was Disney and ESPN’s $3 billion acquisition of the NFL Network and other league digital assets. Under the terms of the deal, the NFL took a 10% equity stake in ESPN in exchange for giving the sports giant control over the NFL Network, NFL Fantasy, and the RedZone channel.

Following that, in an internal staff memo, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro explicitly explained that absorbing a rival network created immense operational redundancy.

“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources, and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts,” Pitaro wrote.

When the stakeholders evaluated overlapping roles, they opted to downsize staff. And the non-renewal of Damien Woody’s contract with ESPN may also fall under the same bracket.

Woody is an active guest on NFL podcasts, so a life outside ESPN could see him make a few more appearances on famous podcasts where his expertise could be used.

As far as other sports broadcasting networks like Fox or CBS being interested in signing Woody? That remains a possibility.