Chris Mortensen, longtime ESPN journalist, dies at 72

For NFL watchers and readers of a certain age, Chris Mortensen was the defining insider of his generation. He first joined ESPN at a time when most sports information brokers such as Mortensen plied their trade for local newspapers. His work ultimately helped develop an entire cottage industry that is ubiquitous today — the sports television insider.

Mortensen, who joined ESPN in 1991, was ever-present on the network’s programs and platforms, from “Sunday NFL Countdown” to “SportsCenter” to ESPN Radio to the NFL Draft to Super Bowl coverage to offseason features. He covered every Super Bowl since 1985, except for Super Bowl 50 when he was forced to take a leave of absence in 2016 after being diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer. He announced on social media in September 2023 that he was stepping away from ESPN.

Mortensen died Sunday morning at age 72, ESPN announced. He is survived by his wife Micki and son Alex.

Peter King, who retired last week from full-time NFL writing and whose career aligned with Mortensen’s time, said in an interview on Sunday afternoon that Mortensen’s career was a testament to doggedness.

“He belongs next to Will McDonough on the Mount Rushmore of NFL information people,” King said. “They are the two guys. He did it for so long and did it so incredibly well that it was the sort of thing that for years no matter where I was, I would make sure that I watch every one of his segments on the ESPN pregame show. I’m a little emotional about it because after I retired the other day he called me. He sounded great. He called me and he said a bunch of nice things. I just always appreciated my relationship with him and appreciated his vigor.”

“Mort was widely respected as an industry pioneer and universally beloved as a supportive, hard-working teammate,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN. “He covered the NFL with extraordinary skill and passion and was at the top of his field for decades. He will truly be missed by colleagues and fans and our hearts and thoughts are with his loved ones.”

“An absolutely devastating day,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on X. “Mort was one of the greatest reporters in sports history, and an even better man. Sincerest condolences to his family, and all who knew and loved him. So many did. Mort was the very best. He will be forever missed and remembered.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also issued a statement sending condolences to Mortensen’s family, colleagues “and the many people Chris touched throughout his well-lived life.”

“It’s a sad day for everyone in the NFL. I admired how hard Chris worked to become one of the most influential and revered reporters in sports. He earned our respect and that of many others with his relentless pursuit of news but also with the kindness he extended to everyone he met,” Goodell said. “He will be greatly missed by many of us in the league who were fortunate to know him well beyond the stories he broke each Sunday.”

Fred Gaudelli, the longtime producer of Sunday Night Football and a former lead producer of Monday Night Football and ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage, called Mortensen one of the five most influential hires in ESPN’s history.

“He was the first true insider that ESPN hired,” Gaudelli said. “All of a sudden, we were breaking NFL stories left and right and they were all accurate. He revamped our draft coverage. When I hired Chris for the draft, I’d been reading him in The National, which a lot of people may not even know what that is now. But it was a daily sports paper that had some tremendous writers that unfortunately didn’t last very long. He really taught me and so many other producers and so many other talent about reporting and about stating things with precision.”

As an insider, it was inevitable that he would anger some fan bases. His reporting in 2015 drew the ire of Patriots fans during the Deflategate scandal, in which the league said the Patriots conspired to manipulate footballs to give quarterback Tom Brady an advantage for the 2014 AFC Championship Game. The story was massive for its time and Mortensen eventually in a long interview with King years later acknowledged some errors.

Before ESPN, Mortensen covered the NFL as a reporter/columnist for The National (1989 to 1990) and served as a consultant with CBS Sports’ “The NFL Today” in 1990. He worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from 1983 to 1989 as a beat writer covering the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons before becoming an NFL national writer. In 2016, he received the Pro Football Writers of America’s Dick McCann Award.

King said the story that he will always remember Mortensen was involved in was breaking Peyton Manning’s retirement in 2016.

“The guy is sitting in the MD Anderson Cancer Center in March 2016 having very recently, within the last six or seven weeks, been told that you have Stage Four throat cancer, and we have to start attacking this right now,” King said. “Then one morning that month we all wake up and see that Chris Mortensen has tweeted out that Peyton Manning is going to announce his retirement tomorrow from pro football. I think most people probably knew Manning thought he was probably going to retire, but for Mort to break the story while being in a hospital getting intensive treatment for something that was threatening to kill him, that is my story about Chris Mortensen.”