ESPN To Pay Mina Kimes $2 Million To Break Down Football Film

ESPN signed Mina Kimes to a new contract worth $1.7 million a year. According to the New York Post, the network also allowed her to sign a separate deal with Omaha Productions to push her yearly earnings over $2 million.

Such a salary is usually reserved for a host or in-game broadcaster. But that is not the case for Mina Kimes.

ESPN will, instead, pay her that amount to continue in her role as an NFL "analyst" and film "guru."

Kimes' role is particularly interesting when you consider that, well, she never played NFL football. Or any football, for that matter. In fact, she is the only general NFL analyst at the network who never played.

Her counterparts include Marcus Spears, Dan Orlovsky, Bart Scott, Domonique Foxworth, Robert Griffin, and Ryan Clark. And while that group hardly impressed in the NFL, they at least spent time under coaches and film directors.

They know more about football than Mina Kimes. They know more about football than Field Yates, who like Kimes never played football but doesn't carry the title of "analyst" and isn't paid like a star host.

Now, Kimes is not without value. She is a talented writer and fine on camera. Yet you have to wonder what makes her so special, in the eyes of ESPN.

Why is ESPN paying her about the same salary as Paul Finebaum despite only contributing to various programs during football season?

The answer is, of course, perception.

Kimes is a social media darling. Users on X treat her like she's Howard Cosell or the football Charles Barkley.

Critics would have crucified ESPN had it not re-signed Kimes. Her followers would have called the network sexist and even racist.

A $2 million salary is a small price to pay to avoid Maria Taylor 2.0, which Kimes would have been.

Mina Kimes is a sacred cow. She is one of the media's cool kids. She feeds into victim culture.

Earlier this year, she pretended to be offended when some lowly Boston radio host used the word "Nip." She tried to ruin his career. So, the station suspended the man.

A year prior, Kimes uploaded a screenshot of a random person sending her hate mail.

Every single person on TV receives hate mail. But only Kimes feels the need to share it.

Kimes received the response for which she she hoped. Her colleagues and followers came to white knight her and told her how powerful she is.

Mina Kimes plays the game well. The media game, that is. She understands her value to ESPN's public relations. She is both Asian and female. She is open about her politics.

And unlike Sage Steele, she is on the right side of the political aisle. In 2022, Kimes openly endorsed Democrat Karen Bass for Mayor of Los Angeles.

The hell with ESPN's ban on politics:

ESPN has longed for someone like Kimes: someone who checks off the boxes and exhibits Disney's politics more eloquently than the standard employee. And to her credit, she is smarter and less incoherent than, say, Mark Jones.

The network has pushed Kimes to the front of the line like it did Bomani Jones before her. And Michelle Beadle. And Maria Taylor.

As a result, Kimes makes more or equal to every NFL analyst at ESPN, other than Troy Aikman.

"Super happy for @minakimes," posted Dan Orlovsky. "She’s earned it all."

Well, not really.

She didn't earn any of it. There was nothing to earn. ESPN created a role for her and paid her well above her market value for it.