This NFL Broadcast Weekly picks each major network's top 2027 NFL broadcast duos amid the split of longtime partners Joe Buck and Troy Aikman after an ESPN contract dispute
Joe Buck
Joe Buck is without a co-commentator at ESPN in 2027(Image: Getty Images)
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NFL broadcasts are officially in their revolving-door era: gone is the ballyhooed 2010s era of major-network consistency. The last epoch of television to avoid day-to-day competition with social media for eyeballs produced the century's most dominant broadcast teams.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman spent 20 years together in a two-man FOX booth from 2002 to 2021. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth teamed up for 13 years at NBC from 2009 to 2021. Jim Nantz first worked with Phil Simms from 2004 to 2016 (13 years) before pairing with Tony Romo until 2025 (nine years) in the CBS booth
The 2027 season will spell major changes, especially after rumors of a Joe Buck-Troy Aikman split on ESPN's 'Monday Night Football' intensify. Other questions loom: will JJ Watt, seemingly off to a strong start, remain in the top CBS booth? Will the 81-year-old Al Michaels want to remain with Amazon? Will Aaron Rodgers and Travis Kelce want to enter the already-crowded broadcast fray?
This week's NFL Broadcast Weekly Round-Up from the Mirror US predicts the 2027 NFL broadcast pairings.
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ESPN/Monday Night Football - Joe Buck and Greg Olsen (out: Troy Aikman)
The Joe Buck-Troy Aikman partnership on ESPN, which started in 2022 after an industry-shaking move from FOX, seems to be over. The play-by-play man got his new $100+ million extension. Aikman, in the last year of his $90 million contract, wasn't offered one. Will it affect next year's Super Bowl?
“I’ll broadcast through this season, and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens,” Aikman said on Dallas radio station KTCK this week.
ESPN has plenty of candidates should the network look internally. Jason Kelce is in his first year calling games in a three-man NFL Network tasked mostly with international games. Dan Orlovsky has long called the Monday Night Football b-games.
The Manning brothers are both already in-house on the Manningcast, and ESPN pays Peyton a pretty penny for Omaha productions. Pat McAfee is paid north of $30 million annually, and ESPN just gave him a Monday Night Football Alt-cast — is play-by-play next (McAfee has some experience)?
Olsen, the No. 2 FOX after Tom Brady poached his top job in 2024, is considered a lock by industry insiders John Ourand of Puck and Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated to partner with Buck.
The former tight end rapidly accelerated into the top FOX booth almost by accident in 2022 after Buck and Aikman left the network. Olsen, arguably the top simplifier of X's and O's on television, was relegated to second string in 2024 after Tom Brady's arrival.
Olsen is out of a contract after the 2026 season. He lacks Aikman's recognizability and pageantry, but he brings a similar air of professionalism and will be remembered by casual viewers. More importantly, his six years of television make his voice familiar enough to land another top network job.
Jim Nantz
Jim Nantz's CBS long-term partner has yet to be decided(Image: Getty Images)
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CBS — Jim Nantz and Troy Aikman (out: JJ Watt)
Would CBS have kept Tony Romo with the network following his offseason OWI charge had he maintained the sparkling broadcast reputation he had in his early years on television?
It doesn't matter: CBS moved JJ Watt from the No. 2 booth into the top one alongside Jim Nantz and made the move permanent — at least for the 2026 season — in early October.
Watt, a burly complement to the regal Nantz, has shown juice in the top booth. But CBS and FOX will continue to split AFC/NFC games in future years, and CBS is primed to carry further Dallas Cowboys contests long-term.
Aikman, 59, won't leave the industry after feeling the cold shoulder from ESPN. His welcome present at CBS? Getting to call consecutive Super Bowls — LXI is on ESPN, LXII is on CBS.
He'll become a rare FOX-ABC/ESPN-CBS staffer, but that's what the industry entails. Do you remember — Cris Collinsworth was once in a three-man FOX booth with Buck and Aikman. The broadcaster musical chairs is nothing new.
Ian Eagle
Ian Eagle joined the Amazon NBA team in 2025(Image: Getty Images)
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Amazon/Thursday Night Football — Ian Eagle and Kirk Herbstreit (out: Al Michaels)
Amazon's initial 2022 investment in college football ace Kirk Herbstreit made sense for Thursday Night Football: the new NFL media rights holders needed to buy legitimacy, and Herbstreit was one of football's most respected voices.
More curious was the streaming giant's decision to hand him a three-year extension on his initial five-year deal, giving the 57-year-old another $10+ million annually.
Amazon could have imported Watt and his old play-by-play man, Ian Eagle, from CBS to give Thursday Night Football a booth with tailor-made chemistry.
81-year-old Al Michaels, on a year-to-year play with Amazon paying $15 million annually, could be out at a moment's notice. “Well, either the people that I work for will tell me, or I’ll know myself, a combination,” the veteran play-by-play man said last week to Dan Patrick.
Amazon is reportedly interested in Eagle, 57, as a replacement. The Swiss-army knife broadcaster joined the media company in 2025 for its first year of NBA coverage. It's finally time "the Bird" gets a signature NFL job.
NBC/Sunday Night Football — Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth (no change)
Mike Tirico, 59, and Cris Collinsworth, 67, have partnered brilliantly since 2022. Tirico, the face of American Olympic coverage with a broadcasting CV comparable to almost anyone in history, brings a controlled candor unparalleled in the industry. Collinsworth, well, is beloved — or at least, widely identified — for his quixoticism.
Both are on multi-year deals and aren't going anywhere. Notably, Collinsworth did tease a potential new broadcast candidate — Aaron Rodgers — during last Sunday's Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers contest
“The bottom line is, like I always thought that John McEnroe, when he was a tennis announcer, you knew from what he said as a player, like he didn’t withhold anything, right?" Collinsworth asked.
"Officials and whatever, he was gonna let you know exactly what he felt, which is great for a broadcaster, and I think Aaron would fall into that same category. We know at the very least we’re gonna know what he’s thinking.”
Mike Tirico was caught off guard. "That was supposed to stay at dinner," Tirico joked.
FOX — Kevin Burkardt and Tom Brady (no change)
FOX, needing to fill the Joe Buck-Troy Aikman vacuum, handed Tom Brady an unprecedented 10-year, $375 million contract ahead of the 2024 NFL season. After a shaky and mostly awkward start, Brady's mega-football nerd-ism has come out on full display. No, he's not as polished as Aikman, but he's certainly enthusiastic.
Burkhardt was elevated from FOX's No. 2 team in 2022 and partnered Olsen for two years before Brady's arrival. A blue-collar announcer with plenty of baseball experience, he neither enhances nor diminishes the broadcast.