CBS and Tony Romo part ways as JJ Watt keeps lead NFL role

Tony Romo will not return to CBS Sports, with the network announcing on Friday, October 2, that the two sides had agreed to end their working relationship. According to reporting by the Associated Press and Yahoo Sports, the announcement makes permanent the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s departure from CBS’s NFL coverage.

JJ Watt will continue working with play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson on the network’s lead NFL broadcast team for the remainder of the season. Yahoo Sports reported that CBS confirmed that arrangement in its statement. Watt had already been covering Romo’s absence.

Romo was arrested on July 23 following a traffic stop on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin. He pleaded no contest to operating while intoxicated on September 1. The Associated Press, in a report carried by NFL.com, said Milwaukee County court records showed a six-month loss of driving privileges, an alcohol assessment requirement and an $834 payment. He was also ordered to use a vehicle interlock device.

In his September statement, Romo apologized and accepted responsibility for his actions. He said back surgeries had left him with persistent pain, followed by dependence on pain medication and then excessive reliance on alcohol as he tried to stop taking that medication. Those were Romo’s explanations, reported by the AP; he said they did not excuse his conduct.

The decision follows a period in which CBS had left his future unresolved. In August, CBS Sports president David Berson said there was no timetable for a decision. The AP reported that Berson described an ongoing assessment and said the network wanted attention directed toward its football broadcasts rather than Romo’s legal situation.

Watt joined CBS in 2023 and spent two seasons as an analyst on The NFL Today before moving to the network’s second commentary team with Ian Eagle, according to the AP. His continued assignment alongside Nantz keeps the replacement arrangement in place.

Romo, 46, became CBS’s lead NFL game analyst in 2017 after a playing career spent entirely with Dallas. He earned four Pro Bowl selections during that career, which ran from 2004 through 2016, according to the AP’s September report.