The offseason NFL insider reshuffling continued on Monday as it was announced that Tom Pelissero, formerly of NFL Network but laid off by ESPN last month, would join Netflix for its five-game NFL package this season in addition to taking a role at The Ringer, where he’ll make weekly appearances on The Bill Simmons Podcast throughout the NFL season.
Additionally, Prime Video has reportedly tapped former NFL Network reporter James Palmer to fill Ian Rapoport’s seat as the insider on Thursday Night Football.
That left one vacant NFL insider role at an NFL broadcast partner: CBS. Jonathan Jones, who previously served as an NFL insider for CBS Sports, left the network to join The Athletic this offseason.
As it would turn out, that vacancy simply won’t be filled. CBS currently has no plans to hire an NFL insider to replace Jones, Awful Announcing has learned.
Jones saw his role at CBS diminish last season. After appearing on the network’s Sunday NFL pregame show, The NFL Today, from 2022-2024, Jones was not featured on the program in 2025. Instead, his role shifted to focus on CBS Sports HQ and written reporting on CBSSports.com, and The NFL Today opted to do away with the insider segments that are familiar to most NFL pregame shows.
The NFL Today is preparing to trot out its fifth lineup change in five years, this time replacing Matt Ryan with Russell Wilson and Kyle Long. Host James Brown and analysts Nate Burleson and Bill Cowher remain the core of the show, though the pieces around them continue to shift.
Without plans to bring on a new NFL insider, CBS will be the only NFL pregame show not to feature an on-air talent with that title. Fox employs Jay Glazer in the role. ESPN has Adam Schefter (along with a wealth of NFL Network talent to tap). NBC has Mike Florio for Football Night in America. Prime Video will have Palmer. And Netflix will have Pelissero.
It’s an interesting editorial call by the network, especially in an age when injury news and updates, transaction rumors, and other personnel decisions are valued at a premium among NFL fans. Of course, it’s not like CBS will be going without this information. Seconds after an insider at another outlet reports this type of news, CBS will be able to discuss it just as it would if it had its own insider on the payroll. So, aside from getting a few scoops before anyone else, CBS doesn’t really lose much by making this decision.
Maybe the best evidence in support of the network’s strategy is how few people even noticed The NFL Today didn’t feature an insider last season.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.