Two CBS NFL Anchors Fall Ill, Are MIA for Broadcasts

The NFL pregame show The NFL Today on CBS looked a little different on Sunday. Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms were absent from the show, and fans were wondering why they went on the show. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post said both Esiason and Simms are out sick. 

According to The Sun, Esiason, 62, was not on any of the CBS NFL shows on Sunday. However, Simms, 68, appeared on one of the CBS NFL programs earlier in the morning during the pregame show but left shortly after. Before Simms left, he shared his thoughts on the Kansas City Chiefs’ chances of winning the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year. 

“I was convinced last week because they ran the football and played a little differently,” he said. “They hit rock bottom and just had to have a game where they won and did something. The team can go to the Super Bowl because of their defense…I think they can be a big factor.”

Simms has been an NFL analyst since the Super Bowl champion quarterback was cut by the New York Giants in 1993. But once the 2023 NFL season comes to an end, his contract with CBS expires, making his future with the network up in the air. “I’m never going to get out of it,” Simms told the New York Post. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t go back to CBS. But I’m definitely going to continue to work with or in the NFL — somewhere, somehow, whatever it is. I’m just not going to go, ‘OK, I’m done. I’m retired.’”

Simms is not the only one from The NFL Today that has an expiring contract as host Esiason, Bill Cowher and host James Brown are at the end of their deals. Simms is not worried about what’s next for him as he still plans to do his half-hour spots with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on Sirius XM and his podcast with his son Matt. But Simms told the New York Post he thought he was going to be a coach once his playing career ended. 

“I did have two opportunities to go into coaching, and I did think about them,” Simms said. “I’ve never really told anybody about it. Maybe a few people, I just say, ‘Hey, they offered me the job.’ I could have had it. I chickened out.”