After being replaced by Tony Romo as CBS' lead NFL analyst, longtime broadcaster Phil Simms is heading to pregame. 

Simms announced his decision to join the network's NFL Today show in an interview Wednesday with Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch: 

Listen, I didn’t make any comments for a lot of reasons and you want to sit there and think about it. Initially was my pride hurt? Absolutely. Of course it was…So it took a little bit. Not long. I started thinking about it in a positive way and then I became excited about it. [CBS Sports Chairman] Sean [McManus] had talked to me over the years about maybe going into the studio.

I now get to follow the league like I want to. That was probably the most frustrating thing about my job. You do one or two games a week, you can’t really pay attention to the other teams like I wanted to do. When you do games, you are all-in on those games. On Inside The NFL, I get to say things about stuff that I never get to say in a broadcast.

Simms, 62, had been part of CBS' lead NFL broadcasting crew with Jim Nantz since 1998. The network replaced him with Romo, the longtime Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback who retired earlier this month after an injury-plagued 2016.

Romo has no broadcasting experience but was perhaps the most sought-after personality in all of sports media over the last couple months. The pivot will keep Simms in an all-studio role, as he also does work on Showtime's Inside the NFL.

“I think Phil will be a terrific addition and it will elevate the show,” McManus said, per Deitsch. “I think anyone who has seen Phil on Showtime will appreciate what a terrific studio analyst he is. He is a man who has really strong opinions and he is not afraid to mix it up with other staff members in a respectable way.”

Simms will join a cast that includes James Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason and Bart Scott. He will be replacing the departed Tony Gonzalez, who stepped away from his position to be closer to his family in Los Angeles.

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