The Romo Replacement: CBS Tabs JJ Watt As Their Lead NFL Analyst This Season And Beyond

Cross off one potential landing spot for Troy Aikman. 

CBS just took some fun out of the NFL Booth Musical Chairs offseason by giving JJ Watt a multi-year extension and announcing he'll be on their 'A' Team with Jim Nantz for the rest of this season and going forward. 

Future Hall of Famer and current CBS Sports announcer JJ Watt has been named lead analyst for the NFL ON CBS in a new multi-year agreement.

The announcement was made today by David Berson, Chairman, Global Sports Group, Skydance.

Watt will continue to call the Network’s top games alongside Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson as CBS Sports’ lead NFL announce team, including next season when they call Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta.

Good for Watt. I've liked him with Nantz this season. Now, I think Nantz could elevate a lot of former players in that spot because he's so good at his job, but JJ has been up to the task. 

The on-air Peanut Punch last week during Bills/Raiders was a good moment for both of them. 

Anytime the guy who calls The Masters has to wear an ice pack on his hand for half the game, you've done some good TV.

When Tony Romo and the network mutually parted ways more than two months after Romo's OWI arrest, that spot next to Nantz appeared very much up in the air. Good for Watt for making it an easy decision to replace him. Watt is the safe choice, for sure. 

Mike Carlson. Getty Images.

I thought CBS might swing for the fences and try to land Troy Aikman. 

It's become apparent that Aikman is out after this season at ESPN. Joe Buck has a new deal, and Aikman, notably, does not. It's become a huge story.

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Aikman would have been a bigger gamble, hoping he and Nantz would work well together. But maybe more importantly, Aikman would have commanded a bigger paycheck, given that he's been half of one of the best booths in football for 25 years. 

It does feel like networks are willing to pay an elite play-by-play guy (Nantz, Joe Buck, Mike Tirico) vs. an elite former player. Is that new? Maybe that's always been the case, and I just haven't noticed it. 

Selfishly, I was looking forward to months of "Where is Troy Aikman going and what's the fallout," but this takes a lot of the fun out of that. 

He's not going to CBS to be #2 behind Watt ❌ (Seems very likely Greg Olsen to ESPN)

He's not going back to Fox to be #2 behind Brady  ❌

Amazon booth reset? 

Netflix? 

Am I missing one? 

Good for JJ. But he and Nantz still don't crack my Top 3 NFL Booth rankings 

1. Tirico/Collinsworth

2. Buck/Aikman

3. Burkhardt/Brady 

101. Spero Dedes / Adam Archuleta

 But given the new deal, Nantz/Watt have some time to climb the charts