Ian Eagle, J.J. Watt to call Jets' preseason finale vs. Eagles on CBS

CBS recently announced that J.J. Watt would make his debut as its new No. 2 NFL analyst for the Jets’ opener against the Steelers on Sept. 7.

But wait, there’s more: Watt and play-by-play partner Ian Eagle will warm up by calling the Jets’ preseason finale against the Eagles on Aug. 22, to be seen locally on WCBS-TV.

Eagle and Watt confirmed that news, which had not yet been announced, to Newsday on Tuesday at CBS’ annual pre-NFL kickoff event for reporters in Manhattan.

Even though they worked together on Netflix’s coverage of a Kansas City-Pittsburgh game last Christmas, the Aug. 22 game will kick off their CBS pairing. Watt previously had been a studio analyst for the network.

“It’s going to be a blast,” Watt told Newsday.

Is he nervous about the latest turn in his post-playing career?

“No, because I have Ian as my partner, who’s one of the best in the business,” he said. “We have a great rapport. We have a lot of fun together.”

Said Eagle, “He is incredibly detail oriented. All he thinks about is success in whatever it is he does. So I see no difference in J.J. Watt the player, who prepared and became a Hall of Fame performer, and J.J. Watt the broadcaster, who wants to be the best in the business.”

Eagle jokingly added, “I’m going to probably teach him a little bit about workouts and how to treat your body. That’s fine. That’s part of it. Trial and error. I know he’s not going to be able to do what I do. Eventually he’ll get there, physically.”

Watt said the Netflix game got him interested in the longer-form work of a game analyst compared to the rapid-fire, sound-bite world of studio shows. He also enjoyed being back in a stadium on game day.

What does Watt think of the Jets’ new coach, Aaron Glenn?

“I think that he’s very clearly establishing an identity for the program,” Watt said. “He is trying to make it in his vision, and that is very disciplined, very hard-working, very tough.

“I do think that will translate to a team on the field that fans are proud of. I’m not saying that is going to translate to a bunch of wins right away, necessarily, but I do think the fans will be proud of the team on the field.”

CBS still 'massive fans' of Tiki

While Watt’s addition to Eagle’s team was the biggest news in CBS’s announcing roster for this season, there also was a notable departure.

Tiki Barber, a CBS analyst since 2019, will not be part of the network’s team for 2025 and instead will work as a pregame and postgame host on radio coverage of Giants games.

“We’re massive fans of Tiki,” CBS Sports president David Berson told Newsday. “He was a great part of the NFL on CBS team, a great part of our radio programming, too.

“We always continually look for opportunities for different people. Tiki had some good opportunities . . . There’s really not much to it, but I have a lot of great things to say about him.”

Watt’s addition to the No. 2 booth led to Charles Davis moving to Barber’s former spot with Andrew Catalon and Jason McCourty.

“We moved some stuff around,” Berson said, “but it’s not because one person came in that [Barber] is no longer with us. Every year we relook at our team.”

Notes & quotes

CBS will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the modern version of “The NFL Today” on Sept. 21 with a “throwback” show featuring vintage graphics and music and an appearance by original host Brent Musburger, now 86. “It was the best team you could imagine, and I just floated along and enjoyed the trip,” he said on a remote during the CBS event . . . CBS will premiere a digital-only show called “The NFL Today+” that will be shown from 10 a.m. to noon on Sundays . . . Rather than use its “NFL Today” panel to narrate highlights during games on Sundays, CBS will deploy Adam Schein for that task from a dedicated studio.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.