Jim Nantz will have a new partner in the broadcast booth this season. With Tony Romo on indefinite suspension following an OWI arrest, CBS has moved J.J. Watt into the lead both alongside Nantz, replacing Romo who has worked with Nantz since 2017.
Nantz along with Watt and Ian Eagle and Ross Tucker who make up CBS’s No. 2 NFL booth, all spoke with the media this week.
Watt said he is excited about the opportunity but admitted it was “certainly not the circumstances you want something like this to happen under.” Nantz revealed that he had been in contact with Romo but did not share any details about their conversations. While Nantz said he is staying focused on calling golf, he’s also looking forward to working with Watt because of the kind of person he is. Via Awful Announcing:
Jim Nantz on J.J. Watt
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”[J.J. Watt] is a very, very talented communicator. When you win the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and you win the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award, which impresses me way more than anything he’s done in his legendary first-ballot Hall of Fame football career, that tells you that the man knows about leadership and he knows how to not only lead people, he knows how to deliver a message. This is something that comes naturally for him. Look at who he is, look at all that football stuff, just look at what he’s been recognized for off the field and the ability to put a headset on and break down a football play compared to being in the community and helping people during a crisis in your city and rolling up your sleeves and doing things and leading people to help make Houston better, maybe this is something that comes naturally for him. He can do that.”
Eagle and Tucker are also looking forward to working together on CBS. They previously called games together on the radio, so they already know what to expect.
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The great unknown right now is how long will these pairings last and what is CBS going to do with Romo? Will they eventually bring him back? If they do, will he take his spot alongside Nantz? Once these broadcast teams start calling games together, how willing will CBS be to shake things up? The longer this drags on, the more awkward more change will seem. Or maybe it’s just a bunch of people calling football games and no one actually cares. I guess we’ll wait and see!
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