J.J. Watt has been a member of CBS Sports since 2023, joining the entity following his retirement after playing 12 seasons in the NFL as a defensive end with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. Watt is widely reputed to be one of the best to ever play in his position, and he has been sharing his insights and perspectives on a weekly basis on The NFL Today studio show for the last two seasons.
With Gary Danielson retiring from the lead college football broadcasting team after next season, CBS Sports divulged that Watt would become an NFL game analyst in the 2025 campaign as Charles Davis transitions to take over Danielson’s position. Watt will be delivering analysis alongside play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle on the No. 2 broadcast team throughout the season. During a recent appearance on the GOAT Talk podcast from the Texans, Watt discussed what it has been like to make the transition to television and expressed his gratitude for remaining around football despite no longer playing.
“It would be very weird if I didn’t have some tie to the game because I love watching it, talking about it, breaking it down,” Watt said. “At the same time, I have a very difficult time criticizing guys because I was on the field. I know, like you got a guy who breaking down film and he’s drawing up the plays and you’re like, ‘That’s not my assignment, that’s not my job, and you just threw all this blame on me on national TV,’ so I never want to be that guy, and so I’m always careful from that standpoint, but it has been really, really fun still being a part of the game.”
Watt will be joining the CBS Sports configuration of game analysts as the company prepares for a Super Bowl broadcast to conclude the 2027 season. Following a record-breaking regular-season slate in 2024, CBS Sports registered a 0.7% decline in year-over-year viewership with a reported average of 19.2 million viewers. The AFC Championship Game broadcast was reported to have averaged 57.7 million viewers, according to John Ourand of Puck, making it the most-watched iteration of the matchup in at least 35 years.
This will be Paramount Global’s third season operating under a 10-year media rights deal reportedly worth $2.1 billion per annum.
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