About the Show
Legends in their field Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth, James Brown and Warren Sapp are the hardest-hitting team in sports and deliver expert insight, exclusive commentary and special on and off the field features you won¹t find anywhere else. Emmy® Award-winning INSIDE THE NFL in HD brings you the sights, sounds and spectacle of the NFL in all its glory. INSIDE THE NFL, Wednesdays at 9 PM (ET/PT) only on SHOWTIME.
Every team. Every game. Every week.
Biographies
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James Brown
HostMoreJames Brown returned to CBS Sports as host for the CBS Television Network's NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY, and as play-by-play announcer for the Network's coverage of college basketball including the NCAA tournament in 2006. Brown will again anchor THE NFL TODAY along with analysts Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher and Charley Casserly. He hosted the Network's Super Bowl pre-game show in February 2010 for its coverage of Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, he served the same role in 2007 for CBS Sports' Super Bowl XLI broadcast.
Brown hosts INSIDE THE NFL alongside analysts Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth and Warren Sapp. INSIDE THE NFL, the award-winning program debuted in 2008 on SHOWTIME. In its first year on SHOWTIME, INSIDE THE NFL won the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show-Weekly.
Brown's first book, Role of a Lifetime: Reflections on Faith, Family and Significant Living, hit bookstores across the country in September 2009. In his memoir Brown relays how he found the role he was meant to play, highlighting both the good and bad decisions he made along the way, teaching readers how to discover life's purpose for themselves.
Brown served as host of "FOX NFL Sunday" for 12 years prior to returning to CBS Sports. He joined FOX Sports in June 1994 after a decade with CBS Sports. Brown hosted "Hang Time with James Brown," daily commentaries on Sporting News Radio. He also served as a reporter/correspondent for HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" and a boxing host for HBO pay-per-view.
Brown first joined CBS Sports in 1984 where he served as play-by-play announcer for the network's NFL and college basketball coverage as well as reporter for the NBA Finals. He also was host of an afternoon show, the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. While at CBS he was also co-host of "CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday," a weekend anthology series.
His sportscasting career began in Washington, D.C. as play-by-play announcer for the NBA Washington Bullets (now known as the Wizards) for Home Team Sports and served as analyst for black college basketball on BET. Early in his career, he hosted a mid-day program on WTEM, an all-sports radio station, co-hosted two weekly Washington-area sports programs, was sports anchor for WUSA-TV for six years, and hosted "James Brown's Pro Football Preview" for SportsFan Radio.
Throughout his career he has earned numerous awards, including three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Studio Host for THE NFL TODAY (2007) and "FOX NFL Sunday" (1998, 1999)." He was the 2002 recipient of the International Black Broadcasters Association's Broadcasting Excellence Award and was chosen as 1999 Sportscaster of the Year (Studio Host) by the American Sportscaster Association. Brown was also awarded the Golden Mike Award (1998) by the Black Broadcasters Alliance, two NATAS Emmys (D.C. chapter) including the Glenn Brenner Award for excellence in sportscasting (1998), and the Quarterback Club of Washington's Sportscaster of the Year Award (1996). In 2005, he was honored with the Director's Award for Broadcasting from The 100 Black Men of America and the Greater Washington Urban League's Sam Lacy Award 2005. Brown received the first annual Pat Summerall Award in 2006 at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, and in 2007 Maxwell Football Club's Excellence in Broadcasting Award and the Dallas All Sports Association Award for Excellence in Sports Journalism. In 2010, he was named "Best Studio Host of the Decade" by Sports Illustrated.
Brown graduated from Harvard with a degree in American Government. A standout on the basketball court, he received All-Ivy League honors in his last three seasons at Harvard University and captained the team in his senior year. He was selected as a fourth-round draft pick by the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and a seventh-round pick by the Denver Nuggets. In 1996, Brown was inducted into the Harvard Hall of Fame.
He is a co-founder and principal of the Brown Technology Group, a certified minority owned and operated information technology company, and is a founding partner of the Washington Nationals.
No stranger to charitable efforts, JB hosts the Gridiron Gala, featuring "The JB Awards" where NFL players are honored for their outstanding community service. The event raises $1M annually for Special Olympics DC. He has also worked on behalf of Darrell Green's Youth Life Foundation, the Neimann Pick Disease Foundation and the Marrow Foundation, among numerous other charities and foundations.
He resides with his wife Dorothy in Maryland. JB's daughter Katrina and her husband John have two daughters, Kaela and Jordyn.
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Phil Simms
AnalystMoreSuper Bowl XXI MVP and 15-year NFL veteran Phil Simms serves as analyst on INSIDE THE NFL alongside Cris Collinsworth, Warren Sapp and host James Brown, a role he has had since the award-winning program debuted on SHOWTIME in 2008.
Simms joined CBS Sports in January 1998 as lead analyst for the CBS Television Network's coverage of the NFL. This season, he and Jim Nantz pair for their seventh season as the Network's lead NFL announce team. Simms, previously teamed with Greg Gumbel for six seasons (1998-2003), called Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, Super Bowl XLI in 2007 and Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 on the CBS Television Network.
Simms introduced the "Phil Simms All-Iron Team," which honored NFL players and coaches, in a special Christmas Day broadcast on CBS in 1999. The "All-Iron Team" special aired on Super Bowl XLI Sunday in February 2007 and in 2010 for Super Bowl XLIV. In 2002, Simms co-hosted the Miss Universe Pageant on CBS, becoming the first athlete ever to do so. He is the author of The New York Times Best Seller Sunday Morning Quarterback: Going Deep on the Strategies, Myths and Mayhem of Football (2004).
Prior to joining CBS Sports, Simms served as a game analyst on NBC's top broadcast team, along with Dick Enberg and Paul Maguire (1995-98). He called Super Bowls XXX and XXXII, announced weightlifting events for NBC Sports' coverage of the 1996 Olympic Summer Games, served as a sideline reporter on "The NBA on NBC" and worked on the "NFL Quarterback Challenge" and "Run to Daylight." He also served as a studio analyst for ESPN.
As an All-Pro quarterback, Simms led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles. He completed 22 of 25 passes in Super Bowl XXI as the Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39-20, to win their first Super Bowl title. He established team marks for most passes completed and attempted for one game (40 completed, 62 attempted), season (286 of 533) and career (2,576 of 4,647), most career touchdown passes (199) and most 300-yard games in a career (21). He was the Giants' first selection in the 1979 NFL Draft, was selected for the 1985 and 1993 Pro Bowls and was the 1985 Pro Bowl MVP. He was named All-Pro in 1986.
Simms graduated from Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., in 1979. He and his wife, Diana, live in Franklin Lakes, N.J. They have three children, Christopher, a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, Matthew and Deirdre.
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Cris Collinsworth
AnalystMoreA Pro-Bowler on the field and off, Cris Collinsworth enjoyed a sensational career as an NFL wide receiver before making a smooth transition to sports broadcasting. In 2008, Collinsworth, the veteran INSIDE THE NFL analyst, joined James Brown, Phil Simms and Warren Sapp for INSIDE THE NFL's debut on SHOWTIME.
Collinsworth's sports television career began in 1989 as a reporter for HBO's "Inside the NFL". The following season he graduated to the show's studio cast where he served as co-host until the end of the 2007 NFL season.
In 2009, Collinsworth was named lead game analyst for NBC Sports, replacing John Madden. He is partnered with Al Michaels on the Sunday Night Football broadcasts. Collinsworth started with NBC Sports as game analyst for the network's NFL coverage and select college football broadcasts in 1990. He was assigned to the NBC NFL pre-game show in 1996, and has also served as NBC sports reporter for the 1996 and 2008 Olympic Summer Games and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Collinsworth was also a member of the Fox Sports broadcast team, working alongside Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth, as well as in the studio with James Brown, Howie Long, and Terry Bradshaw. Collinsworth returned to NBC Sports in 2006 as a studio analyst and co-host of "Football Ball Night in America." In 2007 and 2008 he served as game analyst for the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football.
To date, he's earned 11 Emmy Awards, including a record eight for Outstanding Sports Studio Analyst, making him one of the most honored studio analysts in sports television, and three for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst, most recently for his work in 2009.
The Dayton, Ohio native was a three-time Pro Bowl selection during his eight-year NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Collinsworth moved to Titusville, Fla., at an early age where he started as quarterback at Astronaut High School. At the University of Florida, the six-foot-five-inch Collinsworth converted to wide receiver for the Gators and was named to both the All-American and Academic All-American teams his senior year. He received a law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1991. Collinsworth was later inducted into the Academic All-American Hall of Fame.
In the 1981 NFL Draft, the Bengals choose Collinsworth in the second round. His height advantage and blazing speed made Collinsworth an immediate impact player on the Bengals' offense. In his rookie season, Collinsworth caught four passes for 107 yards in Super Bowl XVI. Despite gaining more offensive yards than the San Francisco 49ers, the Bengals lost the game.
Collinsworth surpassed 1,000 receiving yards four times in his career (1981, '83, '85 and '86). He amassed 417 receptions for 6,698 yards and 36 touchdowns in 107 games. The final game of his career was Super Bowl XXIII in 1989. Collinsworth caught three passes for 40 yards, but the Bengals fell short, once again to the 49ers, by a score of 20-16.
Collinsworth lives with his wife, Holly, and their four children in Fort Thomas, Ky.
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Warren Sapp
AnalystMoreSeven-time Pro Bowler, Warren Sapp serves as analyst for INSIDE THE NFL for the third season. In 2008, Sapp joined veteran broadcasters Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth and James Brown on INSIDE THE NFL as the long-running, award-winning program debuted on SHOWTIME. In its first year on SHOWTIME, INSIDE THE NFL won the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show-Weekly.
Sapp also serves as studio analyst for the NFL Network on Game Day Morning, alongside Spero Dedes, Steve Mariucci, Marshall Falk and Michael Irving and is regular contributor on NFL Total Access. The charismatic and loquacious Sapp previously served as guest analyst on CBS Sports' NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY.
One of the best defensive linemen in NFL history, Warren Sapp has been intimidating opposing quarterbacks and lineman since the first time he put pads on. Sapp's 96.5 career sacks are the second-highest for a defensive tackle.
The Plymouth, Fla. native has collected some of the football's highest honors and accolades in his extensive 13-year playing career including the 1999 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, NFL 1990s All-Decade Team and Florida High School Association All-Century Team.
A standout on both sides of the ball while playing at Apopka High School, Sapp was a highly recruited prep star. He signed with the then dominant University of Miami, where he focused on defense and quickly became one of the best linemen in the nation. In 1994, his last season with the Hurricanes, Sapp won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's best defensive player, and the Lombardi Award for best lineman or linebacker.
In the 1995 NFL Draft, Sapp was chosen 12th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It took him just two years to be named to his first Pro Bowl in 1997, the first of seven straight selections. He was named Defensive Player of the Year (1999), NFL All Decade Team and recorded 77 sacks, the second highest in team history.
In 2002, Sapp led the Buccaneers-as the league's top defensive team-to capture the NFC South Title with the best record in team history (12-4). The Bucs went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders, the nation's top offensive team, by a score of 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII.
In 2004, Sapp signed with the Oakland Raiders. After a down year in '04 and an injury plagued season in '05, Sapp returned to his All-Pro form in 2006. Sapp played one more season with the Raiders in '07 before announcing his retirement on Jan. 4, 2008.
In 2009, Sapp filmed his first movie playing Forrest Whitaker's brother in the movie Family Wedding. He also served as host for ABC's new primetime show, Superstars.
Sapp resides in Hollywood Fla. and Hollywood, Calif.