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Tony Romo burst onto the NFL broadcasting scene in 2017 like a revelation. The former Cowboys quarterback predicted plays before they happened, brought infectious energy to CBS’s No. 1 booth, and made watching football feel like hanging out with the smartest guy in your fantasy league. The network rewarded him with a 10-year, $180 million contract in 2020, making him the highest-paid NFL analyst in television history.
Five years later, that contract looks like one of the worst decisions in sports media.
How did we get here? The answer arrived in Denver on Sunday afternoon.
Chiefs offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia ripped Malcolm Roach’s helmet off during Sunday’s game against the Broncos, committing an obvious illegal hands penalty in front of 76,000 fans at Empower Field. Tony Romo, calling the game for CBS, decided this was the moment to perform a one-man comedy routine.
“Hey, that helmet. Take your helmet off. Give it to me. Give it to me. There you go, thank ya. Yeah, you can’t do that. That’s not allowed,” Romo said on the replay, doing voices for both players as if he were narrating a children’s cartoon instead of analyzing a 10-yard penalty in a critical AFC West game.
It’s the kind of call that would’ve been quirky and endearing in 2017 when Romo was predicting plays before they happened and revolutionizing NFL analysis. Eight years later, it’s just another example of an analyst who’s devolved from must-watch television into background noise punctuated by weird sounds and forced humor.
There’s no describing this Tony Romo moment, so we’ll let the clip do the talking.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) November 16, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The play itself deserved actual analysis. Suamataia grabbed Roach’s facemask mid-rush, yanked his helmet completely off, and committed one of the more blatant penalties you’ll see on an NFL field. Why did the Chiefs’ offensive tackle resort to such a blatant foul? What does it say about Kansas City’s struggling offensive line in a game they desperately needed to win against a Broncos team that had won seven straight?
Instead, Romo turned it into a bit. He did character voices. He performed a little routine. And viewers watching a critical AFC West showdown got comedy hour instead of the analysis CBS is paying him $18 million annually to provide.
The transformation didn’t happen overnight.
Does someone want to check on Tony Romo???
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) November 2, 2025 at 1:56 PM
The play predictions that made Romo must-watch television are gone. What’s left is an analyst who praises Patrick Mahomes for throwing incomplete passes into the dirt, calling them “winning plays” that showcase “great instincts.” He turns Bills games into Josh Allen love letters, gushing over scrambles that half the league’s quarterbacks make every Sunday.
“This is Mahomes throwing it in the dirt on purpose… He’s got such great instincts… It’s a winning play.” – Tony Romo pic.twitter.com/Pcdt97LEU1
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
CBS knows there’s a problem. The network reportedly conducted an “intervention” with Romo years ago about his performance. Romo himself admitted on Cousin Sal’s podcast that criticism is “warranted,” saying, “maybe I should do these things, maybe they’re right in some ways.”
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand said last week that Romo and Jim Nantz are “regressing” as a broadcast team, pointing to an “uncle-nephew dynamic” where Romo makes jokes and Nantz tries to figure out what he’s talking about.
“You just don’t necessarily feel it when you’re watching the game,” Marchand said.
CBS gave Romo that $180 million deal in 2020 when ESPN showed interest, panicking and locking him up through 2030. At the time, it seemed necessary to keep the hottest name in sports media. Five years later, the magic is gone, and the contract is unmovable.
The network already solved this exact problem in 2017 when Phil Simms lost touch with viewers. CBS created a studio role for him on The NFL Today, and everyone moved on. The blueprint exists. Move Romo to the studio where his enthusiasm can work in shorter bursts, pair Nantz with an analyst who actually complements his style, and stop pretending this arrangement still works.
But CBS has six years left on Romo’s contract. Six more years of character voices during penalty explanations, weird noises during critical moments, and an analyst who treats NFL broadcasts like comedy hour while the network pays him $18 million annually and acts like everything’s fine.
Sunday’s helmet call wasn’t an isolated incident. It’s who Tony Romo has become — an analyst who’s fallen from revolutionizing NFL broadcasting to performing bits during penalties. And CBS is stuck with him through 2030, one comedy routine at a time.
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