Russell Wilson is officially headed to sports media.
According to Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel and ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the 37-year-old Wilson is set to replace Matt Ryan on CBS’s The NFL Today.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported last month that Wilson was in negotiations with television networks over a potential broadcast role that would begin in the 2026 season and see him call it a day on his illustrious career. Specifically, Wilson was talking with CBS Sports over a role on the network’s pregame show.
Wilson told reporters last month that he was weighing a contract offer from the New York Jets against starting his post-football career in network television. Wilson, who was teammates with Geno Smith in Seattle, met with Gang Green as he intended to continue his playing career. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Smith advocated for Wilson when the Jets sought his input on a potential backup.
“[The Jets] offered me, and I’m trying to figure out what the next best thing is for me to do,” Wilson told the New York Post at the time. “I still know I can play ball at a high level, but I also have the opportunity to do TV, so we’ll see what happens.”
A landing spot on The NFL Today makes all the sense in the world for both the quarterback and the network. Wilson had a guest role on the show last season, which amounted to a media audition, and CBS had an empty chair after Ryan’s departure to the Atlanta Falcons front office. Former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was also among those considered to replace Ryan, per Marchand.
Wilson is a 10-time Pro Bowl player and won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. However, his career has been in a slow decline since his blockbuster trade to the Denver Broncos before the 2022 season. Wilson was just 11-19 over two disastrous seasons in the Mile High City before the Broncos took a disastrous cap hit to be freed from his $242 million contract. Since then, he has had stops in Pittsburgh and with the New York Giants, where he served as a backup to Jaxson Dart and even Jameis Winston in 2025.
Russell Wilson certainly has the polish to be a great analyst and presence on television. However, one of the criticisms that has followed him throughout his NFL career is that he has maybe a little too much polish and isn’t genuine. Now that Wilson has indeed decided to hang it up and enter the media world, his challenge will be proving his authenticity, not just his ability to communicate Xs and Os
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.