All that speculation about Tony Romo leaving CBS for the greener pastures of Monday Night football was for naught. Romo is hanging around CBS for the foreseeable future — as anyone would if they were offered $17 million per year — and ESPN has to figure out what material changes — if any — will be made for their flagship football program.
Before we start all the speculating, here are the rules:
The potential color person must not be tied to another network for work on game day. Nate Burleson has shown some great personality and may be a good option but he’s tied to CBS on Sundays.
There will be a preference for ESPN personalities. See, it’s a lot cheaper to move people in-house than it would be to hire someone from the outside. Of course, there will be non-ESPN personalities on the list, but they will probably come at more of a cost.
We won’t be dealing with current players either. Tom Brady isn’t going to be in that booth. Greg Olsen is signed to a nice contract with the Seahawks. This is not a reverse Jay Cutler situation where Cutty signed on with Fox and then came back to the NFL.
Let’s get to it.