Pat McAfee Confirms Strong Reasons That Forced Him to Retire From NFL at 29 as ESPN Analyst Gears Up for Backlash

The tattoos, the tank tops, the table dives—Pat McAfee’s brand is chaos wrapped in charisma. But long before he became the barefoot king of daytime sports talk or the unlikely hype man of WrestleMania, he was just a punter with a dream… and a deadline. It didn’t come during a game-winning kick or a contract dispute. It came in the sky, on a commercial flight next to a man wearing a WWE jacket. For McAfee, that wasn’t coincidence—it was fate in a tracksuit.

Pat McAfee knows how to stay in headlines. After retiring from the NFL on February 2, 2017, the former Colts punter stunned fans by pivoting to a career built just as much on microphones as it once was on booming punts. Though he enjoyed an accomplished eight-season career in Indianapolis—earning All-Pro honors along the way—it was his love for WWE that truly tugged at his heart.

“I love WWE and this is what I was born to do,” McAfee posted on X in August 2024. And now, eight years after stepping away from football, he’s finally revealed the moment—and the reason—that made him walk away from the gridiron at just 29 years old.

In a recent episode of Stephanie’s Places on ESPN+, hosted by WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, McAfee opened up about the decision. WWE’s official Instagram account quickly amplified the key quote: “The goal for @patmcafeeshow has always been WWE, even if that meant retiring from the NFL The latest episode of #StephaniesPlaces is streaming NOW on @espn+!,” they mentioned in their post.

“So I retired at 29. A large part of that is because when I was flying from, I think it was Indianapolis to Charlotte, I was sitting next to Scott Armstrong, the ref. He had a WWE jacket on. So I started asking questions and I started talking to him about how do I get into the business? I’m like, is there an age limit on this entire thing? And he said, ‘Normally we don’t really take anybody new to the business past the age of 30,’” McAfee recalled.

It wasn’t just a throwaway thought. For McAfee, it became the moment of no return. Shortly after, he began plotting his transition—literally from turf to turnbuckle. In 2020, he made his in-ring WWE debut at NXT TakeOver, feuding with Adam Cole and instantly becoming a fan favorite. During the episode, he explained how his wrestling aspirations went beyond idle curiosity. They were tactical, almost obsessive.

“When I was in the NFL, I bought a wrestling ring because I found out I could,” he admitted. “Got boozed up one night, found out I could buy one. Showed up on an 18-wheeler. I put it in my barn. I trained a little bit. Almost every decision that I’ve made has been around trying to get into the wrestling business.”

From breaking records in the NFL to body-slamming rivals on WWE’s biggest stages, McAfee’s unconventional path has made him one of the most recognizable crossover personalities in sports entertainment. And now, with ESPN, WWE, and his own media empire in full swing, his story continues—equal parts punt, punchline, and powerbomb.

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