The NFL Today
American football television program on CBS

The NFL Today is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the NFL on CBS brand. The program features commentary on the latest news around the NFL from its hosts and studio analysts, as well as predictions for the day's games and interviews with players and coaches. Originally debuting as Pro Football Kickoff on September 15, 1961, the program airs before all NFL games broadcast by CBS (usually on Sundays at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone), and generally runs for one hour (except for Thanksgiving and during the postseason when it is generally 30 minutes). The program's commentators also provide commentary during game updates, the halftime reports, and the postgame show on the NFL on CBS broadcasts at the conclusion of single early games and, if time permits, late games.
Since 2025, the crew consists of longtime sportscaster James Brown, who has served as the host of The NFL Today since 2006; former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher; former Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson; former Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson; and former Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs guard Kyle Long serving as analysts.
The NFL Today broadcasts from Sean McManus Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City; however, the program will occasionally broadcast from the game site of a high-profile regular season game, the AFC Championship Game, and the Super Bowl. The pregame telecast of the Super Bowl has sometimes been branded as The NFL Today at the Super Bowl, formerly The Super Bowl Today.
From 2014 to 2017, CBS partnered with the NFL Network to air selected Thursday Night Football games; the NFL GameDay crew has appeared in segments on The NFL Today for both Thursdays and Sundays (and Saturdays when applicable).
Broadcast history
Dawn of the pregame format (1961–1974)
The program began on September 15, 1961, when CBS debuted the first remote 15-minute pre-game show, the first of its kind on network sports television.
“The NFL Today” enters the record as american football television program on CBS. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Today, American and football can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7752981. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2025, 2006 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “The NFL Today” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.