Relax, relax, relax. It’s just a rumor. But rumors don’t just come from nowhere.

However, in a story broke yesterday morning by Jason McIntyre of Thebiglead.com, a source told him (supposedly credible) that the NFL Network will heavily pursue bringing in Chris Berman once his contract expires in three months.

On May 10, (coincidentally Mr. Berman’s 55th birthday), Berman’s contract with ESPN is up. Current President of the NFL Network Steve Bornstein used to work with Berman in the 80s when he himself was an employee of ESPN.

The two have known each other for over 30 years, and there’s a decent chance Bornstein will throw a lot more money Berman’s way than ESPN will.

Later last night, a source told SportsbyBROOKS.com that Berman is also rumored to possibly move to DirecTV. The rumor is that if Berman was brought on, he would be reunited with another former ESPN employee, Dan Patrick in what would be yet another channel devoted to the NFL.

If Berman leaves, ESPN loses big time. Pretty much all their NFL programming will go down the tubes. I don’t think he’s an expert, however he’s by far the most entertaining person on that ESPN panel.

If Berman were to leave, he would join Hall of Famer Peter Gammons who left for the MLB Network, and Dan Patrick who left for radio and NBC as popular figures in the ESPN programming who took the high road.

With baseball season very close, Im very curious to see how much attention Gammons takes from ESPN and brings to the MLB Network. It could be a slight indication of what may happen if Berman leaves in terms of the NFL.

Oh yeah…ESPN PR has no comment on the situation.