ESPN Analyst Who Lost an Arm in Recent Car Crash Accused of Running Shady Fantasy Football Leagues

Kristoffer Tripplaar/AP

An ESPN draft analyst who was seriously injured in a recent car crash has been accused of running shady fantasy football leagues.

Last week, ESPN’s Matt Miller announced on social media that he was recovering from a crash that nearly took his life. In the post, he revealed he sustained numerous fractures and even had to have one of his arms amputated.

The sports world was stunned by the news, and Miller received an outpouring of support from both fans and colleagues in the industry. Days later, however, that wave of support shifted into one of criticism following troubling allegations.

As noted in a report from Awful Announcing, the criticism stemmed from a viral Reddit post. Originally posted in May, the post accused Miller of scamming fantasy football players by failing to pay league winners. The comment section was filled with people detailing their alleged experiences with Miller’s leagues.

According to the post, Miller claimed that 50% of the league’s entry fees would go toward a charity of his choosing. The other half would be awarded to the winners. The commenters then said payment would take months — if they were even paid at all. It got to a point where at least one player reached out to ESPN directly.

For its report, Awful Announcing spoke with multiple people who claimed to have participated in the fantasy football leagues. The report read:

“I saw Matt post he needed another team for a league,” said one fantasy football participant. “I didn’t even know it was a charity league until he explained it to me. I love fantasy, so this seemed cool to do with a known person, although you couldn’t win much because half the pool was going to charity. Whatever. I was down.

“Once I sent the Venmo, that was pretty much it. I am not sure half the teams in the league were real people. They were auto-drafts. Matt wasn’t involved at all. He had a team, but he clearly wasn’t managing it. He stopped returning DMs. Everyone was confused. I won the league and kept messaging him about payment, but never heard back. I reported him to [fantasy site] Sleeper, who told me they had banned him for being a known scammer. That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, there are other people who are having this experience.'”

Another player told Awful Announcing that they emailed Miller directly and CC’d other employees at ESPN. After that, he was suddenly paid. The report also uncovered that Miller ran 91 fantasy leagues during the 2025 NFL season. A significant number of them “never even reached an actual draft,” meaning the leagues wer completely inactive despite Miller taking payments for them.

Neither ESPN nor Miller provided comments for the report at the time of writing.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!