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Eight days after he was arrested for OWI (operating while intoxicated), CBS has placed No. 1 game analyst Tony Romo on indefinite leave.
“Tony Romo is on leave from his role at CBS Sports until further notice,” the network said in a statement on Friday.
The former Cowboys quarterback was poised to enter his 10th season on CBS’s top NFL broadcast team with play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. But on July 23, he was pulled over by police in his home state of Wisconsin and charged with OWI. According to a police report, Romo failed field sobriety tests.
TMZ posted police bodycam footage of Romo being arrested and declining to take a breathalyzer test. Police also found an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, according to the Associated Press. The 46-year-old Romo has yet to publicly comment on the incident, while CBS had stayed silent until Friday.
JJ Watt, who debuted as a game analyst on CBS’s No. 2 team last season, will work with Nantz and Wolfson on the No. 1 team in Romo’s absence.
Romo joined CBS in 2017 after 13 seasons wth the Cowboys. He quickly became a sports media sensation, earning the nickname “Romostradamus” for his uncanny ability to predict plays before they happened. He reset the market for talent salaries by earning a 10-year, $180 million contract extension in 2020.
But Romo has taken increasing criticism in recent years due to on-air miscues and a perceived lack of work ethic. CBS could potentially save $72 million from the last four years of his contract if it uses his arrest as a trigger to terminate his deal.
Should CBS ultimately opt to move on from Romo, Watt—who earned plenty of praise calling games alongside Ian Eagle last season—would be the most obvious full-time replacement as the network’s No. 1 game analyst. CBS said on Friday that it will announce its full talent roster for the 2026 NFL season at a later date.
