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Two-time Super Bowl champion and New England Patriots captain Rob Ninkovich is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst. The former linebacker will appear on NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio and more throughout the year.
Ninkovich will make his ESPN debut Saturday, July 27, on SportsCenter on the Road live from Patriots camp.
“I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to work for ESPN,” said Ninkovich. “I look forward to sharing my knowledge of the game and expressing my passion for football in the next chapter of my professional career.”
Adds Seth Markman, ESPN vice president, NFL and college studio shows: “Rob will excel as an analyst for the same reasons he excelled as a player: he’s smart and he puts in the work. Our viewers will appreciate the insight he will share being fresh out of the game, where he was surrounded by and contributed to so much success.”
An 11-year NFL veteran, Ninkovich played for the New Orleans Saints (2006, 2008), the Miami Dolphins (2007-08) and the Patriots (2009-16).
While with the Patriots, Ninkovich started 16 of 17 postseason games and contributed to two championships – Super Bowls XLIX and LI. He recovered an NFL best 14 fumbles over the course of the 2010-16 seasons, and he recorded eight sacks three years in a row – the first Patriots player to do so since Hall of Famer Andre Tippett. He served as co-captain in 2013 and 2015.
Overall, Ninkovich played in 131 regular-season NFL games and logged five consecutive seasons as a 16-game starter (2011-15). He was a fifth-round selection by the Saints in the 2006 NFL Draft after being named the Most Valuable Player for the Purdue Boilermakers as a senior.
Following his NFL retirement, Ninkovich served as a reporter for WBZ-TV (CBS Boston) during four Patriots preseason games in 2018. He also appeared as a guest analyst on ESPN shows in May.
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