John Clayton joined ESPN in August 1995 as a senior NFL writer and commentator. He is seen, heard and read across nearly all of the company’s multimedia platforms and is a regular contributor to ESPN’s NFL coverage on television, including his “Inside the Huddle” segments on SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown and NFL Live. Clayton also writes for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine and frequently contributes to ESPN Radio, including co-hosting the annual NFL Draft broadcast. In 2007, Clayton received the Dick McCann Memorial Award — voted on by the Pro Football Writers of America and annually recognizing one member of the PFWA for distinguished service — and was inducted into the writers’ wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Clayton hosts a weekly three-hour Saturday morning NFL show on ESPN Radio’s Seattle, Wash., affiliate, 710 ESPN Seattle. He has hosted a local Seattle radio show since 1990 (previously on KJR Radio). Clayton was the NFL and Seattle Seahawks beat writer for the Tacoma News Tribune from 1986 through 1998, and an NFL correspondent for The Sporting News since 1980. He began his writing career at the Pittsburgh Press as the NFL and Pittsburgh Steelers beat writer from 1976-1986.
Clayton is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.