Bill Simmons wants NBC to ‘test drive’ Mike Tomlin in the ‘Sunday Night Football’ booth

Mike Tomlin has spent three Sundays dazzling viewers from NBC’s studio, and Bill Simmons is already lobbying for a promotion.

On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons and The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis heaped praise on Tomlin’s early work on Football Night in America, pointing in particular to a halftime segment during Rams-Broncos in which NBC cleared the desk and left Tomlin alone with Maria Taylor to dissect the Cowboys’ coverage breakdown against the Ravens and the play calls first-year Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough leaned on down the stretch of Washington’s 33-31 upset of the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

Mike Tomlin breaks down the Cowboys’ “negligent” defensive approach in the Rio finish vs. the Ravens. 🏈🎙️ #NFL https://t.co/HM4OjvoaUD pic.twitter.com/NI1EwD4Zub

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 28, 2026

Curtis likened the analysis to something out of a football podcast, and the two argued — and agreed — that NBC would be remiss not to find out whether that acumen translates to calling a game.

“If you’re NBC, you’ve got to see what he’s like doing a game,” Simmons said. “I think Collinsworth is as good as he’s ever been. I’m not trying to push Collinsworth out. I think you have to just test drive it, or you have to put him in the booth with those guys. Which I think would be awesome. Collinsworth is a good enough broadcaster that if you put Tomlin in there, he’d be able to play off and Tirico would know how to handle it. But I think you have to see it at some point this season.”

A trial run could come on one of the few weeks when Cris Collinsworth takes a game off, and NBC calls on Jason Garrett. Simmons, though, would rather see Tomlin slide into the booth as a third voice alongside Collinsworth and Mike Tirico.

NBC, however, doesn’t appear inclined to try either. Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner reported last week that the network knows Tomlin prefers working in the studio over calling games, and that putting him in the booth hasn’t been discussed this season. The reluctance is understandable given how different the two jobs are. A booth analyst spends the week traveling, sitting through production meetings with coaches and players from both teams, memorizing two 53-man rosters and poring over All-22 film. Tomlin still travels to Sunday Night Football each week, but the studio spares him the preparatory grind he endured for 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, and by all accounts, he’s savoring the reprieve. NBC colleague Devin McCourty recently said Tomlin has been staying up late for Hawaii games on Saturday nights, sleeping in on Sunday mornings, and attending family reunions for the first time in three decades.

That doesn’t mean the booth is permanently off the table. Tomlin is under a multiyear contract with NBC, which backloaded the deal to keep him on television as NFL teams inevitably come calling, and Cris Collinsworth is signed through February 2030, when NBC is next slated to broadcast the Super Bowl. Collinsworth will be 71 by then, and at some point, the network will need a succession plan for its lead analyst chair.

Shifting circumstances elsewhere in the industry could eventually force the issue. Simmons said he’d heard that the market for Tomlin’s services wasn’t as lucrative as many assumed when he first ventured into television, largely because no network had a vacancy in its top booth at the time. The landscape looks considerably different today. Tony Romo’s OWI arrest in Wisconsin and subsequent leave have left CBS reshuffling its NFL booths and weighing its next move, while ESPN’s Troy Aikman and Fox’s Greg Olsen are both playing out the final years of their contracts. If a marquee analyst chair opens up, Tomlin would be among the most coveted names on the board, whether or not he’s ever called a game.

Until then, Tomlin will keep holding court at halftime, which, by Simmons’ telling, has already become appointment viewing on Sunday nights.