Cris Collinsworth is the only NFL commentator with a Pro-Bowl career, a law degree, and the mind of a journalist. No wonder he’s the smartest guy in the game.

by Paul Solotaroff

In the shouting match that televised sports has become — the three-man booths, the overmiked crowd feeds, the this-one-goes-to-11 theme songs — it’s rare to hear an analyst use his indoor voice to describe the action, and rarer still to hear one with the poise and smarts to teach us something about what we’re watching. Sunday Night Football ’s Cris Collinsworth sees and says more in a game than most of his competitors do in a season. Obsessively prepared but not wonky about it, and light on his feet without the Chris Berman clowning, he reminds you a little of the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers: a guy who’s splendid at what he does and has more fun than anyone doing it. The son of teachers, Collinsworth grew up loving basketball, pursued a law degree while playing pro football, and is the unlikeliest star in the broadcast booth since John Madden, whose chair he took over on Sunday Night Football when Madden retired in 2009. He’s also an overscheduled father of four, flying home each week to coach his son and other receivers at Highlands High School in Kentucky. We met up with the former Cincinnati Bengal wideout — a three-time Pro Bowl and 13-time Emmy winner — before practice recently to talk about Aaron Rodgers’s magic, why he counts on bellhops, and how trying to be funny on air could get you fired.

For all its problems, the NFL is in something of a golden era: Five or six quarterbacks will make the Hall of Fame; a glut of guys playing the skill positions astound us week in and week out. What triggered the explosion of offense?

I just think the pro game’s fundamentally changed — it’s becoming the college game. College initiated the spread offense while the NFL was banging away, and the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings took note. They said, “Let’s not worry about blocking these guys. If they want to blitz, fine, but they’ll have to cover five wide, and I’ll find someone to get the ball to.” Then the Calvin Johnsons and Andre Johnsons — who are 6-foot-5, 240, and touch the roof when they catch it — instead of playing in the NBA, they’re playing wide receiver. I look at them and can’t believe there are human beings who do what they do.

Or look so at ease doing it. Ever seen anyone more relaxed behind center than Aaron Rodgers?

He’s a magical guy; he really is. He knows something the rest of us don’t. He didn’t get recruited, had to go to junior college, and weighed 160 pounds coming out of there. And then he sat in the green room the night of the draft, and we watched and felt his pain [Rodgers slid to the end of the first round before getting picked], and then he sat for years behind Brett Favre and waited. Now he’s on pace to be better than Favre. There’s just this innate charm he has around people; you can tell they’re all in with him.

Who’s the next to climb the ladder of elite QBs?

Cam Newton. Despite the stuff that’s happened in his career, he has the charisma and the ability to handle pressure, and guys are drawn to him. We have a league now where either you have one of those quarterbacks and a chance to win it all — or you don’t, and you have no chance. If I were running a team, and I thought that one of them was out there — Andrew Luck or whoever the next one is — what price wouldn’t I pay for that pick? Take my whole team, take everyone on it, but I’ve gotta have that guy for a chance to win.

Speaking of Newton, since when do rookie quarterbacks not just survive but flourish? Does it have anything to do with QB camps for 11-year-olds and parents hiring private coaches?

I think that’s sad, to be honest; we’ve turned youth sports into a job. I mean, unless your 10-year-old is on the mound in Little League and the entire bleachers is complaining that the kid’s really 13 and has a fake ID, he’s not gonna play in the NFL. And for every one of those kids we do develop, there are 100,000 who miss an opportunity to play on the golf team, the soccer team, what have you. I played every sport there was growing up, and it was the greatest thing that happened to me. Now with this specialization, I see kids who get a scholarship but want no part of it when they reach college.

How old were you when football crowded the other sports out?

Well, I almost quit playing when I made the jump from peewees to school ball in Florida. I was tall and skinny and playing offensive tackle, just getting slaughtered out there. But my coach got wind of it and wouldn’t let me off the phone till I agreed to stay. Then, my junior year of high school, I won the state 100-yard dash, and that’s when stuff started happening for me. But even in college [the University of Florida, where Collinsworth was both a football and scholastic All-American], I never would have guessed that I’d have a life in football. Same with broadcasting: I loved sports — it’s all I talked about with my friends — but it wasn’t till I got cut by the Bengals and got a call about doing features on Inside the NFL that I even knew you could make money at this. I told them, “Man, that sounds good. I just have one question: What’s a feature?”

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