JJ Watt is no longer filling in. CBS announced on Thursday, Oct. 22, that Watt has signed a multi-year deal to be the lead game analyst for its NFL coverage, keeping him in the top booth alongside play-by-play voice Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. The three will call Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta in February 2028.
Watt had been doing the job since the start of the season. He moved up to the No. 1 team after Tony Romo went on leave following his July 23 arrest in Wisconsin, and on Oct. 2 the network said that it and Romo had “agreed to part ways.” Romo, who pleaded no contest to a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, had been the network’s lead analyst since 2017.
From the first meeting in Arizona with David Berson & Ross Molloy, to the brotherhood of the NFL Today desk, an unforgettable year with Ian, Evan, Ken & crew and now alongside legendary Jim Nantz, Tracy Wolfson, Rikhoff and the whole crew.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 22, 2026
What an honor & privilege.
Grateful
🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/9tNPRx94bL
“There’s only five seats that get to do this”
David Berson, who runs the sports division for CBS and its parent company Skydance, made the announcement. “I’ve had a front-row seat to JJ’s growth as a top-tier broadcaster, watching him tackle this role just like he did his hall-of-fame playing career,” Berson said. “He’s insightful, entertaining, passionate, meticulous in his preparation, and the ultimate teammate.”
Watt said he first thought Berson’s call on Monday was about something else: the moment in last week’s Bills-Raiders game when Nantz tried to punch the ball out of his hands during a “Peanut Punch” demonstration and hit his wrist hard on the football. Nantz spent the second half with an ice pack but has said nothing was broken, and he is expected to work Sunday’s Bengals-Ravens game with Watt.
“It’s an incredible honor and it’s humbling,” Watt said in a video he posted on Thursday. “There’s only five seats that get to do this. I appreciate their trust in me and I have an absolute blast doing it every single week and I cannot wait to continue to do it.” He closed it with: “I’ll see you on Sunday and I’ll see you at the Super Bowl next year.”
A fast climb
The rise has been quick. Watt joined CBS in 2023 as a studio analyst on The NFL Today, a year after he retired. In 2025 he moved to the booth on the network’s No. 2 crew with Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn, and this season he was promoted to the top team.
He is only the fourth lead analyst CBS has had since 1981. John Madden held the seat from 1981 through 1993, when the network lost its NFL rights. Phil Simms took over when CBS got the games back in 1998 and stayed until 2016, and Romo followed him.
As a player, Watt spent 10 seasons with the Houston Texans and two with the Arizona Cardinals. He was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a five-time first-team All-Pro and the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year, and he is the only player in league history with more than one season of at least 20 sacks. He finished with 114.5 sacks.
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