Whether she\u2019s hosting NFL Live or interviewing players and coaches on the sidelines during Monday Night Football, Laura Rutledge makes it look easy.<\/p>\n
Internally, she\u2019s feeling anything but.<\/p>\n
Rutledge recently talked about the anxiety she deals with as part of her job, especially in her full-time role as a sideline reporter with MNF<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI deal with that every day, I really do,\u201d Rutledge said<\/a> on Shannon Spake\u2019s Sons and Daughters podcast<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cI think there\u2019s probably some people out there in the world that go to their TV job and feel great about it everyday, that has never happened to me. I can know inside of me I\u2019m capable of doing these things, and yet be my own worst enemy the whole time. Beating myself down or telling myself I can\u2019t do it or I\u2019m gonna fail.\u201d<\/p>\n The 37-year-old, who re-signed a multi-year deal with ESPN in 2025<\/a>,\u00a0spoke specifically about her\u00a0Monday Night Football role and how hard it was to move past a defeatist attitude. However, once the game got underway, she would realize just how capable she is.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a lot of trouble with that this past season,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore the day would start, psyching myself out and being like \u2018You\u2019re not gonna be able to do this, you\u2019re gonna have a big mess up today,\u2019 beating myself down so bad.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time I would get to the game, I\u2019d be like \u2018Oh, I\u2019m fine.\u2019 I had to prove to myself every single one of those Mondays that I could actually do it again, which is wild because I couldn\u2019t convince myself that I had done it last week.\u201d<\/p>\n She certainly has had her work cut out for her over the last year and a half. Rutledge became the face of ESPN and ABC\u2019s coverage of the New Year\u2019s terror attack in New Orleans<\/a> before the Sugar Bowl. Her MNF interview with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert got weird<\/a>, and she had to set the record straight over a perceived snub<\/a> by Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Through it all, Rutledge has been sprinting from one opportunity to the next, quite literally<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chris Berman has called highlights of plays featuring the NFL\u2019s all-time greats\u2026 Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders and so many more.<\/p>\n Love that he did this for @LauraRutledge<\/a>. Just now on ESPN\u2019s NFL Live. pic.twitter.com\/5mDCs1fWQx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) January 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Rutledge is keeping plenty busy, even as she stops hosting SEC Nation after nearly a decade<\/a>. Along with her usual work, she\u2019ll continue roaming the sidelines for prominent college football games and will be part of ESPN\u2019s first Super Bowl coverage in February 2027.<\/p>\n \t