CBS Sports has placed lead NFL color analyst Tony Romo on leave, one week after his arrest in Wisconsin on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.
“Tony Romo is on leave from his role at CBS Sports until further notice,” a CBS representative said in a statement to Us on Friday, July 31.
The network also told NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport that JJ Watt will take Romo’s place in his absence and that the rest of their NFL lineup would be released “at a later date.”
Romo’s leave comes just over a month before the 2026 NFL season kicks off.
Romo, 46, was pulled over in Milwaukee at around 8 p.m. on July 23, after participating in the Wisconsin Amateur Championship golf tournament.
He was issued a citation for “refusing to take test for intoxication after arrest,” according to court documents viewed by Us.
Additional citations came for Romo allegedly having an “open bottle of an alcoholic beverage” on the passenger’s side of his Jeep, discovered when the vehicle was searched before it was towed away, and for passing vehicles in a “gore area,” which separates interstate traffic from cars entering from an on-ramp.
After allegedly failing field sobriety tests at the scene – as seen in body cam footage obtained by Us – he was taken into custody and a court date has been set for September 21, one day after CBS’ Week 2 NFL slate. Romo has not spoken publicly about his arrest and Us has reached out to his attorney for comment.
An officer at the scene told Romo she believed he was intoxicated due to his “red glassy eyes” and an “odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage.”
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback is a native of Burlington, Wisconsin, located about 40 miles outside of Milwaukee. Since retiring from the NFL in 2017, Romo has become an avid golfer, frequently competing in the Wisconsin Amateur Championship.
“It is as tough as you are going to play I think in almost any golf tournament,” Romo told NBC26 Wisconsin in an interview hours before his arrest. “You get the best guys around, the competition, and then the people who work with the WSGA — they’re just really special people.”
Romo has since pulled out of his next scheduled tournament, the M&P Group Texas State Open in Tyler, Texas, which began on Tuesday, July 28.
In the weeks prior to his arrest, Romo and his wife, Candice Crawford, attended the July 3 wedding of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift at Madison Square Garden. In an exclusive interview with Us last year, Romo praised Kelce, 36, for how he has handled his high-profile relationship.
“People won’t even realize this, but [Kelce’s] probably doing less than he used to when he was younger,” he said. “If you get your picture taken going to dinner with your superstar girlfriend, it looks like you’re going out or something. No, he just went to dinner. Almost as if he’s married, going to dinner with his wife or something. He didn’t get photographed when he was going out with his buddies all the time.”
