Ryan Clark gets candid about life after ESPN: ‘It does suck that I don’t get to do it no more’

The former NFL star admits he still struggles with missing his Monday night football routine, even as he finds success with his new ventures.

Ryan Clark isn’t pretending that leaving ESPN doesn’t hurt. Even as he embraces his next chapter with “The Pivot Sports with Ryan Clark,” the former NFL player and sports analyst says there’s something missing from his Mondays now that he’s no longer part of the network’s NFL coverage.

During a conversation with Matt Barnes on his “All The Smoke” podcast, Clark opened up about the emotional adjustment of moving on from ESPN, admitting that while his new endeavors are going well, he still misses the job he worked hard to earn.

“Everything’s going great, and everything may go great forever. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t suck to me that I don’t get to do that job no more,” Clark told Barnes.

For Clark, the loss goes beyond missing a television gig or the routine of a regular work schedule. His Monday appearances on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” were deeply connected to his lifelong relationship with football.

“It’s like every Monday, bro, I was in stadiums. That’s what I did since I was 4 years old,” he explained.

Clark said his work gave him an opportunity to maintain relationships with players and coaches across the league, making his time around the NFL something he genuinely looked forward to each week.

“That job gave me life every Monday in a certain way,” he said, explaining that his routine included pregame coverage, halftime and the postgame conversation. “That was my day.”

He even revealed that he has largely stopped listening to football analysis on Mondays since leaving ESPN, choosing instead to tune in when the games actually begin.

Clark was also careful to distinguish his disappointment from any resentment toward the colleagues who continue doing the work he once did. He noted that former NFL center Jason Kelce called him shortly after learning about his departure, while longtime friend and ESPN colleague Marcus Spears has also remained supportive.

“It’s not like I got a feeling like, ‘Oh, I should be there. I’m better than you,'” Clark said. “It’s just like, damn. I worked and I deserved and I earned that. I don’t have it no more.”

Still, Clark emphasized that he genuinely loves what he’s building outside of ESPN and recognizes the accomplishment of creating something new.

But he’s not rushing himself through the disappointment.

“I want to be like the tough guy. Be like, ‘Nah, man, f— them. I’m doing my own thing,’ which I am,” he said. “But the reality is, if I’m being open and vulnerable, like, it does suck that I don’t get to do it no more.”

For Clark, moving forward doesn’t mean pretending the previous chapter didn’t matter. Sometimes, acknowledging what you’ve lost is part of figuring out what’s next.