Tony Romo’s arrest set off a chain reaction across CBS’s NFL booths this offseason, and Robert Turbin was one of several new faces who landed a seat as a result. Turbin, already a color commentator for CBS Sports Network on college football games, will make his NFL broadcasting debut in Week 1 when the Cleveland Browns take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, working alongside Tom McCarthy.
Romo’s leave of absence in the aftermath set the rest of the booth(s) in motion. It pushed J.J. Watt into the No. 1 booth alongside Jim Nantz, which in turn pushed Ross Tucker up from CBS’s sixth crew into the No. 2 booth with Ian Eagle, taking the seat Watt vacated. That left an opening next to McCarthy, who’d worked with Tucker since 2023, and it left another opening in the No. 4 booth, where Andrew Catalon needed a replacement for both Charles Davis, who moved to CBS’s college football coverage, and Jason McCourty, who signed a multi-year exclusive deal with ESPN. Logan Ryan, who spent last season working CBS games across both the NFL and college football, takes that spot, while Turbin takes the seat next to McCarthy, with Tiffany Blackmon handling sideline duties.
McCarthy, entering his 13th season calling games for CBS, spoke about the shakeup and about losing his longtime broadcast partner in a recent appearance on the On Pattison Podcast alongside Bob Cooney and Tim Kelly.
“Well, I’m excited about it because if I ever get into an arm-wrestling competition with another booth, we’re going to win because he’s gigantic,” McCarthy said. “Well, maybe J.J. Watt, he might. But I’m excited about it. I’m always excited to have a young broadcaster join me in the booth because I can see the game through their eyes again, if that makes any sense. He played in the NFL, he played at Utah State, he’s played for a number of years. But coming into the NFL for the first time, he did college football before, and having him see it for the first time, that’s kind of invigorating.
“I felt that way with Ross, too. I mean, even though Ross and I had done a bunch of games on radio together, when I did my first game with him on TV, I was like, ‘Wow, man. He sees this game at a level that’s pretty cool.’ So, I’m excited about that part of it. I’m proud of Ross, by the way. I think he’s just, he is a budding star. It really is. And he’s just an incredible person, too, which, you know, I’ve known him since he was 18 years old. So, to see what he’s been able to accomplish has been, you know, really cool from my standpoint.
“But I’m looking forward to Robert. I think he’s going to be great. I have a sideline reporter that I had previously by the name of Tiffany Blackmon, who I also think is a rising star. So, I’m looking forward to it.”
Turbin, who’s called college football for CBS Sports Network since 2022, spent three seasons in Seattle backing up Marshawn Lynch after the Seahawks drafted him in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and later played for the Indianapolis Colts before retiring in 2019.
The rest of CBS’s rotation stays largely intact as Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, and Melanie Collins return as a crew, as do Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta, and Aditi Kinkhabwala. Luke Kuechly, fresh off being named Netflix’s top NFL analyst, joins CBS in a similar analyst role, and Darius Slay comes aboard as a studio analyst.
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.