Tony Romo and CBS split, J.J. Watt keeps the lead chair

The news landed Friday afternoon, and the part that matters for Sundays came right along with it: the booth Romo left behind in July now belongs to someone else for good.

J.J. Watt stepped in as the temporary lead analyst when CBS put Romo on leave before the season. Now he's not temporary. CBS says Watt stays next to Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson on the lead NFL crew for the rest of the year, which means Romo's run at CBS ends after 9 years without a goodbye game. For a guy who showed up in 2017 and became the hottest name in broadcasting because he could call the play before the snap, that's a strange way to go out.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

Tony Romo will not return as an NFL game analyst for CBS Sports, the network announced Friday, after he was arrested in July for driving while intoxicated. t.co/IFv2yMoqkg

Here's how it got here. Romo was pulled over in Milwaukee on July 23, and court records say an officer smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and that he did poorly on field sobriety tests. On September 1 he pleaded no contest to operating while intoxicated. The penalties: a 6-month loss of driving privileges, an ignition interlock device, an alcohol assessment program and a $784 fine. Romo also released a statement, and it went much further than the usual 'I made a mistake' line.

He tied it back to his playing days, saying multiple back surgeries left him in constant, debilitating pain, that he became dependent on pain medication, and that trying to get off those meds led him to lean too hard on alcohol. Hard to read that and not root for the guy to get right, booth or no booth.

Then there's the money, which is where most of the internet went. Romo signed a 10-year, $180 million contract in 2020 that made him the highest-paid analyst in the game, and he still had about 4 years left on it. A 'mutual' split on a deal that big doesn't just happen for free. Reviews of Romo in the booth had been slipping for a few seasons, and plenty of people figured CBS was looking for a way out of that number. Even so, nobody went to court over it.

ProFootballTalk

@ProFootballTalk

CBS and Tony Romo undoubtedly negotiated a settlement to the $72 million he was owed under his contract. The fact that it happened without full-blown litigation/arbitration suggests it was not a small amount. t.co/sJOsseNbsV

That's the takeaway: no lawsuit and no arbitration fight over $72 million probably means CBS paid up rather than trying to fire him for cause and save the whole amount. Neither side has put out a number, so it's a guess for now. But every insider reading it the same way says a lot. Some people still think CBS did him dirty. Others think he walked out with a pile of money and a clean exit. Both can be true.

What to watch next: whether Watt locks up the job long term once the season ends, and whether Romo ever wants back in a booth at all. He's 1 of the most natural talkers football TV has produced, so if he gets healthy, someone will call. For now, Nantz, Watt and Wolfson are the A-team, and Romo is a free agent with plenty of cash.