ESPNs Pat McAfee announces his debut album. For

Pat McAfee is aware of just what the world wants in 2026.

More Pat McAfee.

The former Indianapolis Colts punter and kicker already is seemingly in all places — as the host of his own show every weekday on ESPN, as an analyst on “College GameDay” and visitor on a quantity of other exhibits on the community, as a commentator/participant with WWE until earlier this yr, as host of a number of podcasts, and many others.

McAfee has not, however, launched an album full of songs written and sung completely by the two-time Pro Bowl choice himself.

That state of affairs will likely be rectified in a matter of weeks.

McAfee announced Wednesday that he could be dropping his debut document, “The Diary of a Polarizing Figure,” on Aug. 14, a musical collaboration with nation singer-songwriter Ernest.

“For as long as I can remember my mere existence has made people hate my guts,” McAfee wrote in an X post asserting the project. “I’ve been writing songs about it for 20yrs & it’s time to let them aht.. A LOT of headlines & narratives.. if I was to die, I’d like my kids to know exactly who their dad is.”

Although McAfee positively has his detractors, it’s fascinating that he’s placing out an album focusing on the haters, contemplating his current recognition is such that he’s reportedly in talks for a contract extension with ESPN that would pay him more than $60 million a yr.

Some online commenters have criticized McAfee for the timing of his announcement, which comes a day after a quantity of his ESPN colleagues have been laid off by Walt Disney Co. McAfee reposted one such criticism on X and commented merely, “The Diary of a Polarizing Figure, August 14th, 2026.”

He said Wednesday on the “Pat McAfee Show”: “A lot of things are being said about me at this exact moment. [People] are going to hear my responses through these songs because these types of situations have been happening to me throughout my entire life. … Literally since elementary school I’ve had people that just don’t like me because I’m too loud and everything like that.”

In December, McAfee launched a country-rock single called “Dookie,” also a musical collaboration with Ernest. A news release at the time said that the only marked “a new partnership between McAfee and DeVille Records / Big Loud Records.”

Ernest told Whiskey Riff early this yr that he and McAfee had recorded eight or 9 songs together.

“Any EA Sports game should have a Pat McAfee song on it,” Ernest said in describing the previous West Virginia standout’s musical fashion. “It’s locker room hype s—.”

Many athletes have tried musical careers, with various levels of vital and business success. It would appear far fewer sports activities broadcasters have tried the same crossover, with John Tesh most likely being the best-known instance after his stint overlaying athletic occasions for CBS and NBC in the mid-Eighties.

If he desires advice from a peer, maybe McAfee would possibly search it from Terry Bradshaw, the four-time Super Bowl champion and longtime NFL analyst who also has launched a quantity of nation/gospel albums and even had a top 10 nation hit with a cowl of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in the Seventies.

McAfee said on his show that he “wrote this entire thing over the last 20 years or so in the notes section” of his cellphone.

“A lot of very personal stuff in here,” he said. “Finding my singing voice has been fun. That has been a blast. Then [to] all the incredible people in Nashville who have assisted and kind of helped me piece all this together, I’m so grateful and thankful.”