Jim Nantz offers first comments on Tony Romo departure: ‘I think unquestionably he will work again’

It's been 12 days since CBS Sports formally split from NFL analyst Tony Romo after his OWI arrest in Wisconsin over the summer. During that time, his former partner of nine years, Jim Nantz, has kept mum on the topic. Nantz remains the top play-by-play voice at CBS and has been calling games alongside J.J. Watt this season while the network, which had suspended Romo following his arrest, determined his old partner's fate.

Now that the dust has seemingly settled, and the Nantz-Watt duo will continue together for the rest of the season, Nantz is offering his first public comments on Romo's departure. In a recent episode of the Traina Thoughts podcast, Nantz addressed CBS' decision to let go of Romo, and suggested that the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback will be back working in media at some point down the line.

"I think unquestionably he will work again," Nantz told host Jimmy Traina. "I don't know if it's calling games or being in studio, but he's got a lot of talent. He's got a lot of people who like him, and he's a star. He's got a personality that's different, and that's a good thing. …And I don't know where Tony's head is on that right now, so I'm not going to speculate, but I think you're asking me 'will he ever work again in the business?' I think there will be plenty of opportunity for that, because he's got game."

Nantz was very complimentary of Romo throughout the interview, echoing much of the same sentiment he shared with Awful Announcing at CBS' NFL preview event over the summer.

"It's a forever relationship [with Romo]," Nantz explained when asked about where he stands with his old partner. "It was a great friendship before we got started as teammates on the air, I've talked about it through the years that when he was a player, with his love of golf … when I would have a Cowboys game we would spend a lot of time, devote a lot of time in these production meetings to talking about golf. So it was a friendship that went back, I'd say [to] 2010."

He also stressed that the decision to bench, and subsequently separate from Romo, was made entirely by CBS Sports and division president David Berson.

"I had no role in this … and I think that's the way it had to be. It was going to be CBS Sports' decision and Dave Berson," Nantz said. "I had no role. No role in that whatsoever."

As for his new partner J.J. Watt, Nantz was similarly complimentary, specifically praising Watt's preparation. Nantz, however, stressed multiple times that his assessment of Watt was not a direct comparison to Romo.

"Let me just say, if this gets clipped and posted, I want this to be included that I'm not making any comparisons. So anything I say about J.J. is not a reflection of what I wasn't seeing with Tony," Nantz prefaced. "…[Watt's] preparation is so much like a guy that is preparing for an actual game, to play in it. It's astounding to see the level of detail he gets into, and that he shares. I find that to be so commendable that, here we are midweek, I expect an email coming in any day now that will already begun the process for him of breaking down almost every player that's going to be on the field this coming Sunday, and seeing things that have popped off the screen for him. He's just a total pro of making sure that we as a group … we all are aware of what he sees going on."

Now, it's understandable why Nantz would preempt such praise of Watt with the caveat that he is not making a direct comparison with Romo, as one of the most common criticisms of Romo's recent years in the booth was that he sounded unprepared. It's only fair to take Nantz at his word, that he's not comparing the two announcers, but it is certainly interesting that his top plaudit for Watt was one of Romo's apparent shortcomings.

Nantz and Watt will continue their partnership in Week 6 for the Bills-Raiders game in Las Vegas.