Phil Simms On Crushing Feeling Of Being Replaced By Tony Romo At CBS

Tony Romo has been officially chosen to replace Phil Simms as CBS’s top NFL game analyst, and Simms has spoken up about how this announcement “hurt his pride.”

Phil Simms Comments On Being Replaced by Tony Romo at CBS

The veteran reporter and former New York Giants quarterback revealed his feelings about Romo substituting him in a phone interview with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch:

“Listen, I didn’t make any comments for a lot of reasons and you want to sit there and think about it,” Simms told Deitsch. “Initially was my pride hurt? Absolutely. Of course it was… So it took a little bit. Not long. I started thinking about it in a positive way and then I became excited about it. [CBS Sports Chairman] Sean [McManus] had talked to me over the years about maybe going into the studio. I now get to follow the league like I want to. That was probably the most frustrating thing about my job. You do one or two games a week, you can’t really pay attention to the other teams like I wanted to do. When you do games, you are all-in on those games. On Inside The NFL, I get to say things about stuff that I never get to say in a broadcast.”

Simms will now join the show NFL Today, which is hosted by James Brown and includes analysts Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason and Bart Scott. Simms will replace former Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, who left the show earlier this year.

The choice of Romo, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who retired earlier this month following a less-than-illustrious 14-year career in the NFL, has drawn both criticism and support.

Simms’ son Chris, a FOX Sports college football analyst, stated CBS needs to rethink how it operates if social media backlash influenced the decision.

Joe Buck, meanwhile, questioned if Romo realizes “how much it’s going to take to step into that booth and go 100 mph.”

SportsDay’s Barry Horn wrote in an opinion piece recently that he believed replacing Simms with Romo would be an improvement for CBS.

“Romo may someday prove to be the second coming of Madden, but for now the network will settle for an upgrade over Simms,” Horn wrote.

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Former football player Phil Simms is interviewed during On Location Experiences’ 51 Days To Super Bowl LI Celebration at STK Rooftop on December 14, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for On Location Experiences)