Phil Simms had a feeling his time with CBS would soon be ending.
“It wasn’t a great surprise,” Simms said on the “Front Office Sports Today” podcast of his recent dismissal from the network. “I knew there was probably going to be some change or thought there would be. So, I think that makes it a little easier.
“Would I have liked to keep the job? Of course. I mean, damn. I didn’t like it — I loved it. Get to talk football and hang around and maybe when we go to commercial, you get to really say what you want to the guys that you’re working with, but in the meetings, everything. But it was a fun job, great job and you just move on to something else now.”
CBS recently made big changes to “The NFL Today” Show by removing Simms and Boomer Esiason and replacing them with J.J. Watt and Matt Ryan.
Simms, 68, had been with the network for 26 years.
While he had an inclination he was no longer in CBS’ plans, he said the network did not keep him in the loop before dropping the axe.
Simms’ contract had expired, meaning the network chose not to renew him rather than fire him.
“Nobody asked me, talked to me or anything like that,” Simms said. “I waited for I guess over a couple months to see what CBS was doing, and I think the longer you wait, the more you know it’s not gonna work out in your favor.”
Simms, the two-time Super Bowl champion with the Giants, previously told Front Office Sports he “would love” if he could stay in television but didn’t know if that’s a realistic route.
In this recent interview, Simms acknowledged how television trends toward younger talents.
For now, he’s focused on the “Simms Complete” podcast with his son Matt, a former Jets quarterback.
“Like I said, kind of expected it. I’ll deal with it. Hey, I just now get to spend more quality time with my son. There we go. Just can’t beat that.”
“Our family, as a whole, we’re hurt by that, of course, because we know how much he loves this game, how much time and effort he puts into it,” Matt said of CBS moving on from his father. “How he really does his homework each and every week. Selfishly, I’m excited now to share all his wisdom and guidance and experience in the years of media and covering football and playing football and selfishly get to have it on ‘Simms Complete’ to myself to share it with the world.”
Phil indicated he has been enjoying his foray into podcasting .
“It’s more freedom,” Phil said. “We can kibbitz for five straight minutes and not say anything worthwhile about NFL football or sports. … The freedom is uplifting, makes you feel great and you can just really elaborate on things like you could never do in TV, except maybe if you work for TNT when they got 30 minutes just free, no commercials … Give me 30 minutes with somebody for no commercials. I’ll light it up too … Do you think I would ever run out of barbs for Boomer Esiason?”
