This week, we learned there were reports of Molly Qerim exiting First Take and ESPN by the end of the year... followed by her stunning announcement that indicated it was happening quickly. On Tuesday's show, she was gone.

So what happened behind the scenes? We now know some of that even after her former colleague, Stephen A. Smith, hinted at some contract negotiation issues.

Burke Magnus, the president of content at ESPN, spoke with The Athletic and told Richard Deitsch that there was a contract renewal conversation going on.

"I’m not going to speak for her, but I think there was a feeling that she wants to do other things, and successfully being on a top show like that for a decade qualifies as maybe I can turn the page and do something else," he said. "We tried to have her do other things and to redo that agreement. It honestly became less about that, and more about, in my opinion, her wanting to do other and explore other things. It ended up being easier for her to make a clean break entirely."

What we now know is that her time on First Take was going to end no matter what.

Who is going to replace Molly Qerim at First Take?

Magnus said there will be tryouts in "the next 30 to 45 days" and that he's not sure if the ultimate replacement will be from ESPN or outside the network.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: ESPN exec reveals why Molly Qerim left 'First Take' so abruptly

Reporting by Charles Curtis, For The Win / For The Win

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