Adam Schefter joined The Pat McAfee Show Friday afternoon, and ESPN’s lead NFL insider wasn’t going to leave the program without mentioning the latest on Tony Romo.
McAfee referenced Romo’s recent arrest on suspicion of operating while intoxicated earlier this week when Ian Rapoport was on the show. But with Schefter joining Friday, McAfee made no mention of Romo, despite news breaking around his future status at CBS shortly before the segment. Some might have expected Schefter to take the out of not having to talk about Romo’s arrest. But when McAfee asked whether they had missed anything in the league, Schefter was the one who brought up the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback.
“You didn’t mention Tony Romo today,” Schefter said with a bit of a smirk. The comment was met with what seemed like faux confusion from McAfee, who looked on as if he had no idea why Schefter would reference Romo.
“You guys don’t know?” Schefter asked with surprise. “CBS placed him on leave for the time being.”
McAfee then noted J.J. Watt was taking Romo’s spot as lead analyst alongside Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson, implying he knew about the news, or at least knew the news was likely coming. In addition to his CBS responsibilities, Watt is a regular on The Pat McAfee Show.
Romo was arrested in Milwaukee for OWI last week, hours after competing in the Wisconsin Amateur Championship. The CBS analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was taken into custody after performing poorly on field sobriety tests, with body camera footage of the traffic stop since being released by TMZ.
Asked whether he was surprised by the decision to place Romo on leave, Schefter certainly didn’t seem caught off guard as he did his best to talk around giving an answer.
“I think everything that happened here, that unfolded with the videos, and all the coverage. When you go through an issue like that, organizations have to make decisions,” Schefter aptly noted. “And the decision that CBS made was to place him on leave right now and promote J.J. to the No. 1 team…and J.J. will do a great job in that spot, and we’ll see if and when Tony Romo gets back to CBS.”
Schefter may not have been surprised, but others certainly will be after CBS offered no initial statement on Romo’s arrest. Boomer Esiason said he didn’t expect a statement from CBS, while the Daily Mail reported the network was ready to stand by its lead analyst. But Friday morning, CBS placed Romo on leave “until further notice,” elevating Watt to the top booth alongside Nantz and Wolfson.
As for McAfee, who has a relationship with newly appointed lead CBS NFL analyst J.J. Watt, he still believes there’s a role for Romo in the NFL world.
“We hope Tony gets the help that he needs, we also hope Tony just gets a driver,” McAfee said. “We are huge fans of Tony Romo…we are not advocates of what Tony Romo did, but we think Tony Romo is hilarious, and we think Tony Romo is very good for the sport, and we think Tony Romo loves ball.”
McAfee might be one of the few supporters Romo has left. After being praised during his early tenure with CBS, Romo’s allure has faded drastically. In recent years, Romo has been widely criticized for his mistakes, hysterics, and talking over Nantz. Previous leadership at CBS even held what was described as an “intervention” with Romo in 2023 to better his preparation habits.
As the criticisms of Romo grew louder, CBS continued to support him as its lead analyst, a loyalty that may have been influenced by having him under contract through 2030 after he signed an industry-altering 10-year, $180 million deal in 2020. But Romo’s OWI arrest might be testing CBS’s tolerance.
