Dan Le Batard: ‘The beginning of the end of Tony Romo’

Dan Le Batard believes this might be the beginning of the end of Tony Romo rather than the downfall leading to some comeback story for the CBS NFL analyst.

In the wake of being arrested on suspicion of operating while intoxicated last week in Milwaukee, CBS recently placed Romo on leave “until further notice.” With no timetable for his return, Romo has already been replaced by J.J Watt in their lead NFL booth alongside Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson, which Le Batard found curious.

Is this the beginning of the end for Tony Romo? pic.twitter.com/HItDb6H9bj

— The Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) August 3, 2026

“Tony Romo has been put on leave by CBS, which is at least a little curious because there are no games right now,” Le Batard said. “And so, J.J. Watt evidently is going to replace him much cheaper while he’s on leave for preseason games and one of America’s preeminent broadcast teams is going to be disrupted for at least the near future, and maybe longer depending on whether or not CBS wants to get out of that contract.”

Le Batard noted Romo is making more with CBS than he did during all but one of his seasons as quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. And as one of the faces and voices of the league as a top network broadcaster, Le Batard believes the arrest puts his job in jeopardy more than if he were just a starting quarterback. Because if Romo was arrested on suspicion of DUI or OWI as quarterback of the Cowboys, he probably returns without missing a game.

“This might be the beginning of the end of Tony Romo and one of America’s premier broadcast teams,” Le Batard continued. “And I assume that, contractually, they might be able to fire him for cause and get out from under that money. My guess is that the delay is all of this and putting him on leave is, at least, in part so they can figure out what they want to do because the only thing that saves or eliminates Tony Romo’s job right now is if his bosses were happy with him before this happened.”

Criticism of Romo the broadcaster has been at an all-time high in recent seasons. He is no longer the enthusiastic “Romostradamus” predicting plays before they occur, which garnered him an industry-altering $180 million contract from CBS. Instead, NFL fans have become eager to point out every mistake, over-exaggeration, and weird noise he makes in the booth. And CBS has attempted to defend Romo from that criticism in recent seasons, but if network executives were privately growing tired of his act, this arrest may have given them an out.

CBS may have felt obligated to stand by Romo considering he was still owed around $72 million from the massive contract they gave the former Cowboys quarterback. Demoting or firing him for poor performance would have been an indictment on CBS for giving Romo that contract. But firing him for an OWI arrest evades CBS of blame.

Judging by how quickly CBS replaced Romo with Watt, it seems like they’re ready to take the out by using the morals clause in his contract. The question is what happens if Romo’s lawyers are able to get the OWI charge tossed during his Sept. 21 court date? The videos of Romo’s arrest and sobriety tests can’t be erased, but the possibility remains that Romo’s lawyers will be able to lessen the charge or get it thrown out altogether. Maybe CBS looks to move on from Romo regardless, opting to pay him more or even all of the contract he’s still owed. But if Romo isn’t convicted of OWI, this might not be the end of Tony Romo.