Chris Simms will not return to Football Night in America next season, he revealed Monday on PFT Live.
Simms joined NBC Sports in 2016 and has spent the next decade building one of the more expansive portfolios in NBC’s football operation, eventually becoming one of the four main analysts on FNIA‘s primary panel alongside Maria Taylor, Jason Garrett, and Devin McCourty.
That role now appears to belong to Mike Tomlin.
“I’m not on the show anymore, Mike,” Simms disclosed while discussing the show’s overhaul with co-host Mike Florio, saying NBC informed him of the decision last week. ” I don’t know if anyone told you. I will not be part of Football Night in America. They told me that last week, so that’s just going to be a different aspect. That hurt because I do love it.”
Simms’ departure is the latest in a significant reshaping of Football Night in America heading into 2026. Tony Dungy confirmed his departure earlier this offseason after 17 seasons at NBC, while Awful Announcing reported in February that Rodney Harrison and Jac Collinsworth were also unlikely to return, effectively dissolving the three-person satellite studio that traveled on-site to every Sunday Night Football game throughout the season. AA also reported that Matthew Berry is unlikely to be back after four seasons, during which he built out a full Peacock fantasy football operation while maintaining his Fantasy Life brand.
On Sunday, Taylor officially announced that FNIA would travel on location every week in 2026, rather than anchor from Stamford, alongside the introduction of Mike Tomlin as the show’s new centerpiece. The main set will feature Taylor, Tomlin, Garrett, and McCourty, with Florio contributing on his own schedule.
Beyond FNIA, Simms’ role at NBC extends across the network’s football coverage. He’s called Notre Dame games alongside Mike Tirico, contributes to Big Ten coverage, hosts the Peacock Sunday Night Football Final postgame show, and co-hosts PFT Live — the very show where he disclosed his exit on Monday — alongside Florio since joining the network in 2016. Chris Simms Unbuttoned, which recently added Connor Rogers as a midweek co-host, remains one of NBC’s most prominent NFL podcast properties.
NBC has not commented on whether Simms will retain any of those other roles going forward.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.