Bettis’ NBC Contract Not Renewed; Replaced by Dungy, Harrison

NBC has opted not to renew the contract of the former Pro Bowl running back Jerome Bettis, replacing him and Cris Collinsworth with just retired safety Rodney Harrison and former Colts coach Tony Dungy.

Collinsworth still has a job at least, as he will be replacing John Madden as a game analyst, doing the broadcasts (which the first regular season game will be the September 10th Titans-Steelers game) with Al Michaels.

“Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed getting to know Tony through numerous production meetings and his work on our Super Bowl coverage and have been impressed by the way he handled himself not only as a coach and communicator, but more so as a human being,” NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol said. “What I learned is that in addition to his obvious Super Bowl credentials, Tony is a gifted storyteller.”

Ebersol added that the format for pregame show have more changes and that more time would be spent on analysis of the upcoming game on “Sunday Night Football,” and less time on highlights.

Bettis had a two-year stint with the network after retiring after being a part of the Steelers Super Bowl winning team in 2005. The future Hall of Famer ended his playing career after 13 seasons, retiring as the NFL’s 5th career leading rusher.

The Bus has yet to make any comments about being shelved from the network.