Max Kellerman Is Enjoying A $5 Million Payday To Not Work, Post-ESPN Layoff

Max Kellerman has not spoken or appeared publicly since he was part of ESPN's mass talent layoffs in June 2023. What has he done over the past 13 months? According to his long-time friend and boxing colleague Brian Kenny, "nothing."

Except get paid. 

"[Max is] on ice, as they say," Kenny told Awful Announcing on a podcast earlier this week. "He texted me because I reached out to him after that happened. I said, ‘That’s awful.’ And he said, ‘Hey, look, I’ll get paid for doing nothing. Best job I’ve ever had.’ It’s so strange in this era of corporate layoffs that they lay you off, and you can’t work, but they’ll pay you. You can’t do anything while they’re paying you."

Kellerman is still under contract and receiving full pay from ESPN at a $5 million annual salary. His contract expires later this year.

Good for him.

For a recap, Stephen A. Smith handpicked Kellerman as the successor to Skip Bayless on "First Take" in 2016. However, Smith and Kellerman never developed the requisite chemistry for a debate show. Smith wanted to replace him after just three years together, as OutKick first reported.

Smith first denied our report. "That is an absolute lie," he said in a podcast interview. A week later, he randomly confirmed our exact reporting in an interview with Hot 97.

"The rumor's accurate in terms of me wanting off the show. We, together, as far as I was concerned, was not a great partnership anymore and that was something that needed to change."

Smith specified that he asked executives in the summers of 2019, 2020, and 2021 not to bring Kellerman back for the fall (just as we detailed). He even threatened to quit after the third time. 

"I walked upstairs and said, 'If is so important to [keep Max on], then give him First Take. I will leave. Two hours later, I got the call he was being removed," explained Smith.

ESPN officially removed Max from the show in August 2021.

After, the network moved Kellerman to a morning radio show with Keyshawn Johnson and Jay Williams and a 2 pm television show called "This Just In." But he had little chance of succeeding in his new roles. 

Johnson was rude to his co-hosts and producers, sources say. He also negotiated to eventually do the show from Los Angeles, away from Kellerman and Williams in New York, greatly compromising the trio's ability to find chemistry. 

And 2 pm on a linear television show on ESPN might as well be 2 am. 

Unsurprisingly, neither show lasted. Stephen A. set out to ruin Kellerman's career and did so successfully.

As for what's next, Kenny predicts that Kellerman will find a landing spot quickly.

"So, that’s where he’s at, and he will emerge," he said during the podcast. "I don’t want to speak for him, but I think it’s later this year. He’ll emerge, and, look, he’s an intellect. He has a very good way of looking at things. He’ll be somewhere, and he’ll be listened to."

Interestingly, Kellerman's situation is similar to Skip Bayless'.

FS1 has decided not to renew Bayless' deal. He will depart the network later this summer. While Bayless and Kellerman still have value, neither pundit wants to work for cheap nor is at the peak of their career.

On the surface, Kellerman and Bayless do not have large or engaged enough audiences to launch a successful independently owned podcast on YouTube. They are a notch or two below Stephen A., Pat McAfee, Colin Cowherd, and Dave Portnoy in terms of drawing an audience.

Kellerman does, however, have decades' worth of ties to boxing that give him a uniqueness. 

Amazon Prime and DAZN are both in the boxing business and could seemingly add him to their coverages. A gambling operation like FanDuel or DraftKings could also show interest, as they try to better capitalize on those on boxing wagers

Still, Kellerman is unlikely to find $5 million a year on the open market. Best he enjoys that now, while not working.

OutKick reached out to Max Kellerman for comment. We will update this story if he provides a response.