It appears that CBS is kicking the can down the road regarding the future of Tony Romo as the lead analyst for NFL football games on the network. The network announced this week that TJ Watt will continue to be paired with Jim Nantz on CBS’ best game for Week 2 and Week 3. About two weeks ago, Romo announced that he will plead nolo contendere to the charges of OWI against him opening the door for CBS to declare what if any punishment it might impose in the matter. CBS said nothing then and has yet to say anything along those lines.
There are reports out there speculating that Romo will not be on the air at all this year, and some reports suggest that the relationship between Romo and CBS is over. My interpretation of the silence at CBS and the incremental declaration of announcing assignments is that CBS and Romo’s representatives are negotiating a buyout of his contract and the less said about that in the open the better.
Reports say that CBS is on the hook for $72M over the next 4 years on Romo’s contract. If CBS were to “fire him for cause”, they would owe him nada. That is a lot of room for negotiating and if the two sides can keep the lid on the negotiations, I could easily see a situation where both sides announce that they are going in different directions and that non-disclosure agreements on both sides preclude any additional commentary.
I am not in the camp that has soured on Romo as an analyst; at the same time, I think JJ Watt and Jim Nantz pair very well in the announcing booth. So, I am pretty sure that however this drama ends I will be satisfied.
Moving on … One of the storylines of the NFL offseason and Exhibition Season involved Travis Hunter and his return from injury suffered in mid-season 2025. Hunter was drafted as a potential two-way player in 2025 and one of the questions in the offseason related to how the Jags would use him in 2026.
Week 1 is an awfully small sample size, but if the choices made by the coaching staff in Jax are indicative, the Jags see Travis Hunter more as a CB than as a player on offense. Against the Browns last week:
- Travis Hunter was on the field for 29 snaps on defense
- Travis Hunter was on the field for 7 snaps on offense
The Jags won the game by 24 points; the outcome was never in doubt. So, it is completely possible that the Jags kept him out of the game on offense because there was no need to play him there. I suggest the question is still an open one and that Travis Hunter can and will be used both ways by the Jags – – but not “both ways” in terms of every play on both sides of the ball. Hunter has an amazing skill set, but his body does not look to me to be built for that sort of wear and tear.
Switching gears … Sam Darnold has been ruled out of this week’s Seahawks game against the Cards in Arizona. His injury is described as “very unique”. Putting aside my visceral reaction to using modifiers to the word “unique”, let me just call it “really unusual”. Tests showed there is no bone fracture and that this is an injury to “soft tissue”. The latest report I read said that the injury was to a tendon attached to the gluteus maximus muscle – – that is your “butt muscle” in the vernacular.
The report that identified this as a tendon injury said that Darnold could be out 4-6 weeks and that makes some sense to me even with my lack of medical training. I recall from biology classes that tendons have significantly less blood flow to them as compared to the muscles that they are attached to and blood flow is a critical factor in regenerating tissue cells from an injury. If indeed Darnold had to be sidelined for 6 weeks, here are the Seahawks’ opponents over that stretch:
- At Cards
- At Commanders
- Vs Chargers
- VS Niners
- At Broncos
- Vs Chiefs
Drew Lock will be the starter for the Seahawks until Darnold returns but behind Lock there is only Jalen Milroe on the Seahawks depth chart at QB. Milroe was a 3rd round pick in 2025, and he made cameo appearances in regular season games last year. He attempted no passes; he ran the ball 3 times for 4 yards. Jalen Milroe had a nice college career at Alabama, but he is still awfully green as an NFL QB.
Finally, considering Sam Darnold’s injured butt, I’ll close with this from Mike Tomlin:
“It’s football. The ball snaps, you kick butt or you get your butt kicked.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………