Report: Rachel Nichols to Join 'Undisputed'; Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson Linked

FS1's Undisputed is getting a major overhaul.

The program will bring in a rotating host of analysts to replace Shannon Sharpe, who left earlier in the summer, with former ESPN host Rachel Nichols among them, sources told John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.

She'll reportedly join Richard Sherman and Lil Wayne as panelists opposite mainstay Skip Bayless starting on Aug. 28, while the program is also considering Michael Irvin or Keyshawn Johnson as an analyst.

Additionally, "The network plans to add a well-known NBA-focused analyst as that league's season gets underway, sources said."

Nichols, 49, has worked for the Washington Post, ESPN and CNN and Turner Sports during her career. In her last stint with ESPN, she served as the host of The Jump between 2016 and '21 before she was removed from the program and it was replaced by NBA Today.

Nichols was removed amid controversy. Private comments she made complaining about being replaced as ESPN's host for its NBA coverage of the 2020 NBA Finals by Maria Taylor were leaked publicly in 2021, with Nichols' suggesting ESPN was attempting to make up for its poor record on diversity by giving her role to Taylor, a Black woman.

"I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world—she covers football, she covers basketball," she allegedly said on a call with LeBron James' adviser, Adam Mendelsohn, per the New York Times' Kevin Draper, which was inadvertently recorded to ESPN's servers. "If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity—which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it—like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away."

Nichols told Draper she reached out to Taylor and apologized. Taylor left ESPN for NBC Sports in 2021.

Irvin, 57, has not made any appearances on ESPN or NFL Network since he was accused of making lewd comments to a female hotel worker in February. Stephen A. Smith has spoken publicly about wanting Irvin back on First Take, however.

"I've spoken up on behalf of Michael Irvin by way of simply stating that I wanted him back on First Take, barring any unforeseen evidence," he said on his podcast in July.

Johnson, 51, was among the massive round of layoffs aimed at on-air talent at ESPN in June. Johnson had been co-hosting a morning radio show for ESPN alongside Max Kellerman and Jay Williams.