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Former ESPN star Trey Wingo wants to set the record straight.
Former NFL linebacker and ex-ESPN analyst Emmanuel Acho claimed that Ryan Clark built ESPN’s “NFL Live” into the “juggernaut” it is today, and Wingo was not having any of it.
“Ryan Clark built NFL Live into the juggernaut it is today (along with Rutledge, Mina, and Spears), he didn’t ideate NFL Live, there’s a difference,” Acho posted.
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Trey Wingo looks on during the first round of the American Century Championship on July 10, 2026, at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Wingo, who hosted “NFL Live” for 15 years, from 2003 to 2018, clapped back at Acho’s claim that Clark built the show by posting a graphic showing its ratings over the years, which he said disproved Acho’s claim.
The graphic, which was based on numbers that ESPN reported, showed that the “NFL Live” averaged 688,000 viewers during a comparable early-season period in 2013 and 624,000 in 2012. It averaged roughly 486,000 in 2015, 492,000 in 2016, 449,000 in 2021 and 440,000 in 2025.
Wingo captioned his post on X, “’Let your apology be as loud as your disrespect.’ I think someone said that once.”
The former ESPN host’s line about letting your apology be as loud as your disrespect referenced a spat in which Acho insulted former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel and later apologized to him.
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Emmanuel Acho speaks onstage during the ADL Never Is Now Summit at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City on March 17, 2026. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for ADL)
Acho’s initial tweet was in response to OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske. Zaksheske began the thread of interaction by responding to a clip from “The Breakfast Club,” where the morning show hosts said Clark built “NFL Live.”
“NFL Live premiered in 1998 when Clark was 18 years old, four years before he entered the NFL and 17 years before he joined ESPN,” Zaksheske wrote on X.
Acho responded to Zaksheske and agreed with “The Breakfast Club,” saying “And nobody was watching NFL Live then,” referencing the show’s existence before Clark joined it.
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ESPN is parting ways with longtime NFL analyst Ryan Clark following an 11-year run at the network. (Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Wingo spent nearly 23 years at ESPN and was not retained in November 2020.
A large part of his tenure was spent hosting and building “NFL Live,” and was the host during its peak year in 2013.
Clark joined ESPN in 2015 and spent more than 11 seasons with the network, overlapping for about five years with Wingo. As his time at ESPN progressed, he became an increasingly polarizing figure.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Acho for comment but did not immediately get a response.
OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske contributed to this report.
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