ESPN NFL writer Adam Schefter indicated that longtime NFL veteran Russell Wilson is close to hanging up his cleats and leaving the league to join CBS Sports as an analyst.
The University of Wisconsin standout quarterback has made 10 Pro Bowls in his 14-year career, most recently with Pittsburgh in 2024 before ex-Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined the Steelers. Wilson played six games for the New York Giants in 2025 after signing a one-year deal worth $10.5 million, but he was supplanted as starting quarterback by rookie Jaxson Dart.
The Athletic sports media reporter Andrew Marchand first flagged a month ago that Wilson might latch on with CBS as a pregame host.
Wilson’s one year with the Badgers was electric, when the North Carolina State transfer helped UW enjoy a historic season, including a trip to the Rose Bowl and an epic victory in the first Big Ten Championship Game.
Wilson went on to torment Wisconsin sports fans as quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, first arriving in 2012 as a third-round draft pick who wrestled the starting job away from former Packers backup Matt Flynn. Wilson was at the helm for the Seahawks in a heartbreaking NFC Championship Game, when the Seahawks rallied to shock Green Bay in overtime after the 2014 season, and he also threw the pass that turned into the infamous “Fail Mary” fiasco during the 2012 season.
Wilson, however, finished 4-4 in his career against the Packers and 1-1 in the playoffs.
Wilson will have a strong case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As a starter, his teams went 121-80-1, and he completed 64.6% of his career passes, with 353 touchdowns and nearly 47,000 yards. He threw just 114 interceptions in 205 career games, and he ran for 5,568 yards and 31 touchdowns. He threw for two touchdowns in a 43-8 win over Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII and went back to a second Super Bowl, where he threw for two more scores but also an infamous interception in the end zone that allowed New England to escape, 28-24.
Wilson won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2020.
He’ll follow in the footsteps of another former Badger, J.J. Watt, who joined CBS Sports in 2023 as a studio analyst before moving to a booth role last year, paired with Ian Eagle on the network’s No. 2 announcing team.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Badgers QB Russell Wilson reportedly retiring, headed to CBS
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
