Phil Simms won’t be working with Jim Nantz anymore, but he will be on CBS every Sunday during the football season.
Simms will be seen as part of the crew on the network’s The NFL Today studio show that airs before the first round of games kicks off each week. Simms will be taking over the seat once occupied by former Chiefs and Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez alongside James Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, and Bart Scott.
Simms spoke to Richard Deitsch of SI.com about the move and said he is excited about the chance to weigh in on topics that he may also address as he continues to be part of Showtime’s Inside the NFL.
“Listen, I didn’t make any comments for a lot of reasons and you want to sit there and think about it,” Simms said. “Initially was my pride hurt? Absolutely. Of course it was. . . . So it took a little bit. Not long. I started thinking about it in a positive way and then I became excited about it. [CBS Sports Chairman] Sean [McManus] had talked to me over the years about maybe going into the studio. I now get to follow the league like I want to. That was probably the most frustrating thing about my job. You do one or two games a week, you can’t really pay attention to the other teams like I wanted to do. When you do games, you are all-in on those games. On Inside The NFL, I get to say things about stuff that I never get to say in a broadcast.”
McManus said that he thinks Simms will “elevate” the network’s studio show and that it’s a move he and Simms have discussed at other points in recent years. Simms is reportedly under contract with CBS for two more years and told Deitsch that he plans to be doing studio work “for a long time.”