J.J. Watt Is CBS’s Permanent Lead NFL Analyst: What the Multi-Year Deal Means After Tony Romo’s Exit
CBS made it official Thursday morning. J.J. Watt is the network’s permanent lead NFL game analyst on a multi-year deal, and the seat Tony Romo held for nine years now belongs to a man who was doing studio hits three years ago.
David Berson, chairman of Skydance’s Global Sports Group, announced it. The release confirms Watt will call Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta in 2028 alongside Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.
Watt Did Not Take the Long Road to This Chair
He joined CBS in 2023 as a studio analyst on The NFL Today. He moved into the booth in 2025 as the network’s No. 2 game analyst, working with Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn. That is one full season of calling games before he inherited the biggest analyst job in the sport.
Watt played 12 NFL seasons, won Defensive Player of the Year three times, and finished with 114.5 sacks for Houston and Arizona. None of that is why CBS gave him this job. He got it because Romo was gone and he was next in line, and then he was good enough that CBS stopped looking elsewhere.
John Ourand reported in August that the network was considering alternatives, Greg Olsen among them. Two months of Watt in the lead chair ended that conversation.
Berson’s assessment: “I’ve had a front-row seat to JJ’s growth as a top-tier broadcaster.” He added that Watt is “insightful, entertaining, passionate, meticulous in his preparation, and the ultimate teammate.”
Watt’s own response was shorter and better. “I love this job and can’t wait to see ya Sunday with Jim and Tracy.”
What CBS Did Not Say
No dollars. No years. Every outlet covering this has the same word CBS used, which is “multi-year,” and nothing past it. Romo’s deal was reported at roughly $17 million a year when he signed in 2020 and has been described more recently as about $18 million annually across ten years. Whatever Watt is getting, nobody has reported it, and anyone quoting you a number is guessing.
CBS also did not mention Romo. His name does not appear in the release at all.
How the Job Came Open
Romo was arrested at a July traffic stop in Milwaukee on suspicion of operating while intoxicated. He refused a preliminary breath test, so no blood alcohol figure exists. CBS placed him on leave July 31. He pleaded no contest on September 1 and lost his driving privileges for six months, with an alcohol assessment program and an ignition interlock requirement attached.
In his statement, Romo said he came to rely on alcohol after a series of back surgeries, first leaning on pain medication and then on drinking to get off it. “None of this is an excuse,” he wrote. “These are my failures and I take responsibility for them.”
The two sides parted ways on October 2. CBS thanked him “for his contributions over the past nine years.” He has not announced a next job, and there is no reporting on where he lands.
This Was Coming Anyway
Romo’s work had been sliding for two seasons and the criticism was specific rather than vague. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic described the booth as an “uncle-nephew dynamic” and said of the analysis, “You just don’t necessarily feel it when you’re watching the game.” Awful Announcing called the contract “one of the worst decisions in sports media” eleven months before the arrest.
Watt is the opposite kind of broadcaster. He explains the play that happened instead of forecasting the play that might. Nantz said on a podcast last week that Watt prepares hard and shares what he finds with the production crew, and he described Watt’s style as more traditional. For a lead NFL booth that spent five years drifting, traditional is the upgrade.
Watt is 37, three years retired, and eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2028. He will probably be calling a Super Bowl the same winter his name shows up on a ballot.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
