Tag: The NFL Today

Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms out, JJ Watt and Matt Ryan in on CBS’s The NFL Today

The two Pro Bowl quarterbacks are out at CBS after 48 combined years.

CBS’s bellwether Sunday NFL show is going to look different in 2024. Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms, two longtime standbys for pre- and post-game analysis on The NFL Today, are leaving the network.

Esiason and Simms had spent a combined 48 years at CBS — Esiason 22 and Simms 26. The two former Pro Bowl quarterbacks were reliable fountains of analysis alongside James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and, on a part-time basis, JJ Watt in 2024. In order to fill the voids they’ve left behind, fellow former quarterback Matt Ryan will go from the color commentary side of things to the pre-game show. Watt and Burleson are expected to play larger roles as well.

Here’s what Esiason had to say about his departure:

“I am stepping away from The NFL Today on CBS,” said Esiason on his WFAN radio show. “More their decision than maybe mine. But I really thought the Super Bowl was my swan song and I thought the way CBS handled, especially us in Las Vegas, was amazing.

“I had been there for 22 years. It’s been an unbelievable run for me and I’m so grateful and privileged to have been there for 22 years.”

Simms took to Twitter for a brief confirmation of the news.

The NFL Today will undoubtedly feel different without its wise, occasionally slightly bitter quarterback sages in the middle of the debate. Esiason and Simms brought a certain gravity to the desk, even if the overstuffed nature of ever-expanding studio shows had tamped down their input over the last decade.

Ryan should be able to replicate some of that after a reasonable broadcasting debut last fall. But until we see the new panel in action, it’s hard to know whether this was a necessary step for CBS to move forward or a jump backward for the network’s sports coverage.

Boomer Esiason, Phil Simms out at ‘The NFL Today’ on CBS

Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms are out of ‘The NFL Today’ team at CBS

Broadcasters are not immune to the quarterback carousel.

CBS announced on Monday it was making changes to its “The NFL Today” studio team. A former New York Giant and New York Jets quarterback are out.

Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason will no longer be in the studio for the game-day show.

Replacing them will be former Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan, who officially retired last week but worked games for CBS in 2023.

Bill Cowher calls Jeff Saturday hire ‘a disgrace to the coaching profession’

Bill Cowher blasted the Colts’ decision to hire Jeff Saturday as interim coach

Bill Cowher did not mince words Sunday on “The NFL Today.”

He delivered a strong commentary on the decision by Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay to make Jeff Saturday the team’s interim coach after firing Frank Reich.

Cowher said he knew Saturday turned down multiple opportunities to be an assistant coach in Indianapolis to remain with his TV job and spend time with his family.

The former Steelers coach also cited assistants on the Colts’ current staff who had much more experience on the NFL level than Saturday, who has, um, none as a coach.

Cowher concluded by calling Irsay’s decision “a disgrace to the coaching profession.”