Former NFL icon Randy Moss is set to return to his role at ESPN on ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ this upcoming season, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
Moss stepped away from the desk at the ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports” NFL preview show last season due to a devastating cancer diagnosis.
He did make a return to the network for Super Bowl Sunday – joining the desk before the league’s biggest game.
‘Randy’s return on Super Bowl Sunday was an emotional lift — not just for our team but for the entire football community — and knowing he will resume his full Sunday NFL Countdown schedule, beginning in Week 1, has been the highlight of the offseason,’ ESPN said in a statement to The Athletic.
‘Hey y’all, I couldn’t do it alone, and I really thank y’all,’ Moss said through tears on the ESPN set at the Superdome following an on-air tribute from the likes of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
‘Hey guys, it’s been hard,’ Moss continued, ‘but I got a lot of love, and a lot of people believe in me, man, so I’m happy to be here.’
Randy Moss is set to make a return to ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ in Week 1
Moss made a tearful return to ESPN at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans months after doctors found a cancerous mass between his pancreas and liver
By November, a number of fans had grown concerned about Moss before his announcement
ESPN host Mike Greenberg admitted immediately after the tribute ‘we told him, we wouldn’t do that,’ before promising that would be the last heartfelt moment on the program.
‘That is a message from the entire football world, and we are thrilled to have you here,’ Greenberg said to his co-host.
‘Greeny, don’t do it again,’ Moss laughed through his tears. ‘Let’s get this show started.’
Moss went on to thank a number of his supporters for helping him return to the air, including: ‘The prayer warriors, my doctors, my beautiful wife for traveling with me.’
‘I beat this thing, and my goal was to be here with you guys,’ Moss told his co-hosts Greenberg, Rex Ryan, Alex Smith and Teddy Bruschi. ‘So, man, God bless you guys for staying strong with me, with the prayers.’
Back in November, a number of fans had grown concerned about Moss’ health when his eyes appeared yellow on ESPN.
That led to Moss making the shock announcement about his health a month ago, appearing on an Instagram Live video alongside his sons to tell fans he had undergone a six-hour surgery and could not walk without a cane.
Speaking about his cancer battle in December, Moss said: ‘I’ve told y’all over the last couple of weeks about me battling something internally, and ya boy is a cancer survivor.’
He then revealed: ‘I did have cancer, they found it in the bile duct, right between the pancreas and the liver, and the cancer was sitting right outside the bile duct.
‘So my doctors went in, I had six hours’ surgery, and for a lot of you guys wondering, you can Google it. I had a Whipple procedure. The best doctor in the United States, Dr [John] Martinie, I am forever grateful.’
