Earlier in the week, CBS Sports announced that Matt Ryan was joining the cast of The NFL Today and also revealed that Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms will not be returning to the program. As it embarks on five decades of studio coverage surrounding the NFL on CBS, the show will enter the 2024 NFL season with the new studio team that also includes host James Brown and analysts Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and J.J. Watt. In reviewing the decision, which coincided with Esiason signing an extension to remain with Audacy in morning drive on WFAN, ESPN New York afternoon host Michael Kay speculated about what could have happened.
“I hope CBS buttoned everything up because if you’re getting rid of guys just because of their age, you’re going to get yourself in trouble,” Kay said. “You can’t fire somebody because of their age.”
Previous reports indicated that contracts for several members of the show were expiring after the conclusion of the NFL season. Brown reached an extension with CBS Sports, and Cowher, Esiason and Simms were all reportedly working on expiring deals. In its announcement, CBS Sports divulged that Cowher will be returning, whereas Esiason and Simms are not among the cast members of the show. As he co-hosted The Michael Kay Show on Tuesday afternoon, Kay asked Don La Greca if he felt that Ryan was more relevant than Esiason and Simms.
“I don’t know what it is that they see in Matt Ryan,” La Greca said, concurring with Kay. “He doesn’t jump off as somebody that I gotta go to see, but maybe they’ve looked into it or whatever, but if they’re trying to get the coveted younger demographic, I guess they feel like, ‘I want to get guys that can play.’”
La Greca compared the move to an observation he has evinced in baseball pertaining to older analysts and how some of them struggle to understand the analytics that have become embedded within parts of the modern game. Even though he never felt Esiason and Simms had not reached a point where “the game passed them by” or that their anecdotes and perspectives were old school, he can understand diminished appeal at an older age.
“They probably have some analytic where they’re able to test the market and see what the fans want,” La Greca said. “They’re doing it for a reason and they’re experts at what they do, and I’m all for change.”
Kay then stated that he believed an impetus for this move was the retirement of Sean McManus as chairman of CBS Sports, resulting in David Berson being promoted to president and chief executive officer of the division. Without mentioning Berson by name, Kay insinuated that the company “brought a new guy in who wants to put his own imprint.” Co-host Peter Rosenberg added that he felt it was the main thing surrounding these changes with The NFL Today.
“I guess my only problem with it is is that it doesn’t seem like you need any experience at all,” La Greca remarked. “We saw all of these guys eventually gradually move up to where they were – to prove that they can do it. Now it doesn’t seem like whether they can do it or not is part of the process.”
