CBS, Fouts Announce Deal

Former Charger quarterback Dan Fouts will join the CBS broadcasting team next season, the network announced Friday.

The announcement has been expected for some time. Fouts, 36, said that he signed a contract about a week after he retired March 24 but that official word was delayed until all the paperwork was finished.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” Fouts said. “I really want to make it a career. I’m going to give it my all.”

Terms of the contract were not disclosed, although Fouts, who played in the NFL for 15 seasons, said it was for two years. Fouts will do color commentary and analysis. His play-by-play partner has not yet been named.

In a sense, Fouts has come full circle. He first started watching football when his father, Bob, was broadcasting San Francisco 49er games on radio and CBS television.

“I started watching football in the press box at Kezar Stadium when I was growing up,” Fouts recalled. “So football for me meant CBS before it meant NFL.”

Fouts will rehearse during exhibition games in August, broadcasting games into a tape recorder but not over the air.

“I want to be perceived as just doing my job,” he said. “I think I’m just going to say it as it is. I know the game, and I have an obligation to tell people what’s right and what’s wrong.”