Not that there was any expectation of a quick return, but Tony Romo will be out through at least the rest of September on CBS.
CBS revealed its announcer assignments for Weeks 2 and 3 of the NFL season on Monday, with JJ Watt continuing to fill in for Romo alongside Jim Nantz on Steelers-Patriots this coming Sunday and Ravens-Cowboys from Brazil in Week 3. There is no timetable on when, or if, Romo might return to his role as the lead NFL on CBS analyst.
Romo has been on indefinite leave from CBS since shortly after his arrest for OWI — Wisconsin’s equivalent of DUI — in July. He pled no contest to the charge earlier this month, issuing a statement in which he admitted to an “over-reliance on alcohol” to cope with dependence on pain medications resulting from back injuries suffered during his playing career.
In his statement, Romo said he would be turning his attention to his health, family, and — “in time” — a return to CBS.
If Romo were to return for Week 4 in October, and there is no indication one way or the other as to whether that is expected, he would have been on leave for nine weeks and missed three weeks of actual work. When Charles Barkley was arrested for DUI in late 2008, he missed six full weeks — all of which were work assignments as the arrest occurred in-season — before returning to TNT after the NBA All-Star break.
Romo joined CBS straight out of retirement nine years ago and was immediately put on the network’s lead team, bumping the long-time analyst Phil Simms. He quickly became one of the most heavily-praised analysts in all of sports television and was rewarded in 2020 with a then-historic contract worth $18 million annually. Romo still has four years remaining on that deal, but in recent years has seemed to regress.
As for the rest of the CBS broadcast team, Ross Tucker will continue to fill in for Watt in the secondary CBS booth alongside Ian Eagle, working Jaguars-Broncos next week and Bengals-Steelers in Week 3.
Luke Kuechly will make his debut as a CBS NFL analyst in Week 3, working Raiders-Saints game alongside play-by-play voice Chris Lewis.
