For the first time in 26 years, NFL fans won’t be able to hear Phil Simms on CBS this season, but they will be able to hear him on CBS Sports Network.
In April, CBS announced Simms and Boomer Esiason would not be returning to The NFL Today, with the network opting not to renew their contracts. Matt Ryan will replace Simms and Esiason, joining James Brown, Nate Burleson, Bill Cowher, and JJ Watt on The NFL Today set. Simms, however, won’t be without work this NFL season. He’ll be working to grow his podcast Simms Complete, and apparently, he’ll also be making weekly appearances on Esiason’s WFAN radio show with co-host Gregg Giannotti.
Following a conversation about Tom Brady’s much-anticipated debut as a broadcaster, iconic Boomer & Gio board operator Eddie Scozzare joked about Simms making a successful transition to the booth until “Jim Nantz stabbed him in the back.” Esiason was quick to disavow any connection to that assessment of Nantz’s relationship with Simms, prompting Scozzare to say, “Phil’s going to be joining us every week,” a note Giannotti quickly confirmed. And with WFAN’s Boomer & Gio’s TV deal on CBS Sports Network, fans will also be able to catch Simms weekly there.
Simms’s weekly appearances on WFAN are not new. He used to join Mike FrFrancesa’sfternoon show during the NFL season until he was seemingly replaced by Jim Nantz sometime around 2013, ironically enough. But with more free time on his hands this season, joining Esiason and Giannotti weekly seemed like a given.
Once Simms was replaced in CBSCBS’s.1 booth by Tony Romo in 2017, fans quickly grew to love his banter on The NFL Today with Esiason. And as much as Simms and Esiason enjoy poking fun at each other on TV, they often ramp it up on the radio.
[WFAN]
