Skydance hands a pretty big NFL ball to JJ Watt.
The former defensive end will take on one of the most prominent on-air roles in sports after officially being named the new lead NFL analyst for CBS Sports. He holds this position on a regular basis following the departure of his predecessor, Tony Romo.
Watt will continue to call CBS’ top games alongside Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson – including next season when the network broadcasts Super Bowl LXII from Atlanta.
“I have had a front-row seat to JJ’s growth as a premier broadcaster, watching him embrace this role just as he did his Hall of Fame playing career,” David Berson, president of the global sports group at Skydance, CBS’ parent company, said in a statement. “He is insightful, entertaining, passionate, meticulous in his preparation and the ultimate teammate. He has a unique ability to see things and connect with fans of all levels. We are excited to have him lead our NFL coverage.”
Watt joined CBS Sports in 2023 as a studio analyst on “The NFL Today.” Last season, Watt took to the booth to call games with Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn. At the start of the 2026 season, he began calling matches with the network’s main team, working with Nantz and Wolfson. He replaces Romo, who in September pleaded no contest to a charge of operating while intoxicated following an incident in Milwaukee in July. At the time, Romo said he hoped to return.
He didn’t do it. CBS Sports and the former quarterback announced earlier this month that they would part ways, a decision that sports media aficionados attribute to some disillusionment with Romo’s recent on-air performance.
Watt also has key on-field experience, having played for the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. He is the only player in NFL history to record multiple seasons with at least 20 sacks.
Sports television networks have spent money to attract the NFL’s top advertisers, with Fox and Disney paying top dollar to land Tom Brady and Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, respectively. Many prominent announcing contracts are set to expire after the end of this season, including Aikman’s, but also Greg Olsen’s at Fox and Al Michaels’ at Amazon. ESPN assured Buck of a new deal — but so far, not Aikman — and Amazon signed Kirk Herbstreit, who also calls the college game at ESPN, on tentative terms. ESPN and Amazon have so far declined to comment on the status of the deals reached by these advertisers.
TV networks rushed to line up top talent to call games after the NFL reached a crucial 11-year rights deal in 2021. At the time, many TV sports chiefs believed they had to spend money to make money. Romo broke new ground at CBS Sports after revealing a talent for predicting the game — nearly forcing CBS to re-sign the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback to a multi-season pact in 2020 valued at around $17 million per year.
Since then, most of CBS’s contemporaries have followed suit. When ESPN signed deals with Buck and Aikman, former Fox Sports mainstays, in 2022 to call “Monday Night Football,” it was seen as a crucial move that would help the Disney-backed sports media giant smooth over what had become a rocky relationship with the NFL. Amazon lured NBC Sports’ Al Michaels and ESPN’s Herbstreit to serve as the voices of “Thursday Night Football.” And Fox secured the services of none other than Brady, a move that ousted sportscaster Olsen.
People familiar with the market estimate that top football pit workers can earn between $15 million and $20 million per season.
CBS Sports may have other talent issues to juggle in the coming weeks. Ian Eagle, a veteran who calls NFL secondary games for CBS Sports, also reportedly has a contract set to expire. He also calls NBA games for Amazon’s Prime Video.
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