Longtime NFL columnist Peter King announced that he is retiring from writing on a full-time basis, revealing his decision in his Football Morning in America column for NBC Sports. The move comes after serving as a sportswriter for 44 years and covering the last 40 Super Bowl championships. Within his column, King explained the rationale behind retiring from his decision, some of which include his desire to try new things and a declining interest in the daily news cycle.
Although his work is oftentimes lengthy compared to other NFL reports, King’s columns are packed with news, analysis and insight that has been considered among the best in the business for many years. The most recent edition focused on his favorite moments in the NFL over the years, along with conversations with members of the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
“I do really like Peter King and I do read his column, but it takes me a while,” 610 Sports Radio co-host Josh Klingler said on Monday’s edition of Fescoe in the Morning. “The problem is that sometimes it’ll be out early in the morning and like, ‘Okay, do I need this? Is there anything interesting; nuggets for the show or whatever?,’ but it’s hard to get through in one sitting because he writes so much. His volume is unbelievable; I don’t know how he processes everything.”
Klingler, who also works on Kansas City Chiefs radio broadcasts, remembered that King was one of the last people he saw at Super Bowl LVIII. After the game, he met with head coach Andy Reid and then proceeded to turn around a comprehensive column recapping the week to appeal to football fans all over the world.
“The status in which he has attained; the level respective to which he has attained,” Klingler explained. “To me, unlike say the NFL Networks or the CBS or the FOXs and whatever who basically pay to get their access, Peter King just basically carved his own niche for the longest time and still has it through multiple employers.”
King began his career with Sports Illustrated and helped establish “Monday Morning Quarterback,” which was also the original name of his columns. Within his most recent edition of Football Morning in America, he took time to reflect on young journalists he mentored that are thriving in the business today. King has received laudatory messages for his storied career in sports media by industry professionals and football fans since his latest column was published by ProFootballTalk, some of whom cannot envision the sport without his contributions.
“It’s not like Sports Illustrated was buying, ‘We are the official whatever,’” Klingler said. “He’s just developed a reputation and a rolodex and confidence with people that’s he talking [with] to become, I think, the preeminent NFL sportswriter.”
Co-host Bob Fescoe appreciates that King discerns the information and intel he has gathered in his column rather than posting things separately on social media platforms. He compared him to Jay Glazer, who reveals information on editions of FOX NFL Sunday ahead of NFL on FOX matchups every week during the football season. King has developed professional relationships with those in the NFL and gained the respect of personnel associated with the league, making a reality without his weekly column difficult to realize.
“Peter King compiles it all on a Monday, and it’s a very good column about the entire weekend of the NFL and whatnot,” Fescoe said. “I’m going to miss kind of going through that and reading that because you’re right – for some of the nuggets for the show or some of the great stories he had.”
Both Fescoe and Klingler expressed their respect for King throughout the segment within their commentary and acknowledged that things will be altered without him. Nonetheless, the football world is grateful for his presence and columns and collectively wished him well as they saw the news on Monday morning.
“People respect Peter King maybe more so than anybody else in the NFL,” Fescoe added, “and to have the NFL without Peter King just sounds kind of weird. It’s different.”
