Charles Davis is the latest well-known face swept up in ESPN\u2019s ongoing layoffs.<\/p>\n
According to The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand<\/a>, Davis, who will take over for Gary Danielson as CBS\u2019s lead college football analyst alongside Brad Nessler this fall, is expected to be let go from NFL Network.<\/p>\n NEWS: Longtime NFL Network analyst Charles Davis is expected to be let go, The Athletic has learned.<\/p>\n Davis remains the No. 1 college football analyst on CBS\u2019 Big Ten afternoon games. https:\/\/t.co\/Gsc84VHvjP<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Davis\u2019s departure adds another name to a week that\u2019s already reshaped ESPN and NFL Network\u2019s on-air roster, starting with the Monday night firing of Ryan Clark<\/a> that unfolded live<\/a> on the air. Tuesday morning brought news that Karl Ravech was let go<\/a> after 33 years at the network, just one night after calling a Dodgers-Phillies game. Awful Announcing also learned<\/a> that David Lloyd, Stephania Bell, and Tom Pelissero were among the cuts. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro addressed the layoffs in a company-wide memo<\/a> Tuesday morning, framing the cuts as a byproduct of integrating the NFL assets ESPN acquired earlier this year, while acknowledging some positions outside that acquisition were affected as well.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019s TV career has spanned more than two decades and nearly every major network. He got his start as a college football analyst for Fox Sports South in 1997, a job he called a \u201cfluke<\/a>,\u201d before moving to TBS in 2002 and then to Fox Sports full-time in 2007, where he became the network\u2019s lead college football analyst and worked three consecutive BCS National Championship games. He shifted into the NFL side full-time in 2015, pairing with Kevin Burkhardt<\/a> and Pam Oliver<\/a> on Fox\u2019s No. 2 broadcast team, before leaving for CBS in 2020<\/a> to join Ian Eagle\u2019s booth. Throughout all of it, Charles Davis maintained a home at NFL Network, where he\u2019d been part of the network\u2019s draft and Scouting Combine coverage since 2007.<\/p>\n That draft role is where Davis\u2019s exit will be felt the most. Fox\u2019s Joel Klatt,<\/a> who has appeared alongside Davis, Rich Eisen<\/a>, and Daniel Jeremiah<\/a> on NFL Network\u2019s draft coverage since 2021 as an informal loan from Fox, said back in April he believed he\u2019d already worked his final draft for the network<\/a>, telling Kay Adams on Up & Adams that his contract with Fox wouldn\u2019t allow him to cross over into ESPN\u2019s ownership structure.<\/p>\n With Klatt already effectively out and Davis now expected to be let go, that leaves only Eisen and Jeremiah remaining from NFL Network\u2019s core draft broadcast team, even as ESPN has said it intends to keep producing a separate NFL Network draft telecast<\/a> alongside its ABC and Pat McAfee-led coverage.<\/p>\n For now, Charles Davis joins a growing list of recognizable names \u2014 Clark, Ravech, Lloyd, Bell, and Pelissero among them \u2014 whose exits have defined layoffs that Pitaro\u2019s memo suggests are still not finished.<\/p>\n\n