Cris Collinsworth

Cris Collinsworth is a former football player. Cris Collinsworth spent eight seasons as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Collinsworth also owns Pro Football Focus, a company that tracks sports statistics.

In 1981, he began his professional football career with the Cincinnati Bengals, winning 15 Sports Emmy Awards.

Collinsworth’s first and last teams of his professional football career were the Cincinnati Bengals.

Early life, Family, and Education

Cris Collinsworth was born on January 27, 1959, in Dayton, Ohio, to father Abraham Lincoln “Abe” Collinsworth and mother Donetta Browning Collinsworth.

Lincoln was one of Kentucky’s all-time leading scorers in high school basketball.

Cris came from a well-educated household, with a teacher for a mother and a high school teacher and coach for a father who subsequently became the administrator.

Apart from that, Abe was able to advance to the position of assistant superintendent.

Cris’s family eventually relocated to Florida in 1963.

Collinsworth went on to Astronaut High School in Florida, where he was an All-American quarterback.

In addition, his father was the Astronaut High School principal.

Facts of Cris Collinsworth

Salary and Net Worth

Cris Collinsworth’s net worth is estimated to be around $14 million. Collinsworth’s annual salary is $4 million.

As a professional football player, Collinsworth has amassed a sizable fortune. Aside from that, he has made a decent living as a sports broadcaster.

Career in College

Cris Collinsworth’s career highlights include being an All-American Quarterback for his high school squad.

He is also the state champion in the Class 3A 100-yard dash for the Florida High School Athletic Association.

He started his career as a first-round quarterback for the University of Florida. Later, his coach moved him to the wide receiver position. He was also a senior captain for the 1980 Florida Gators.

Florida had struggled throughout his freshman year in 1977, so coach Dickey switched him to a more balanced pro-set strategy for 1978.

The offense of Florid did not improve enough to save Dickey’s job. In 1978, 1979, and 1980, Collinsworth rose to a new role as a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection.

He was also named a Gator Great by the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

As part of the celebration of 100 years of Florida football in 2006, the Gainesville Sun named him the No. 12 all-time Gator player.

Professional Career

He began his professional career as a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, where he spent eight years. Cris was also named to the Pro Bowl three times, in 1981, 1982, and 1983.

Aside from that, his height was a huge plus. Collinsworth’s height posed a serious threat to his opponents.

Collinsworth also signed a deal with the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits. Unfortunately, his contract was canceled due to a poor ankle. He returned to the Bengals and played for them for another eight seasons.

Career in Broadcasting

Collinsworth began his broadcasting career as a sports radio talk show host as soon as he retired.

The former wide receiver began his career as a host of a Cincinnati radio station’s talk program. In 1989, he was able to work as a correspondent for HBO’s Inside the NFL.

After NBC lost its transmission rights to CBS, Collinsworth joined the NFL on Fox group in 1998.

Collinsworth was named to the organization’s primary game telecom group (along with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman) in 2002 after a long stint as a color commentator on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show.

Three years after the Super Bowl XXXIX, he worked on Fox’s Super Bowl XXXIX broadcast. During his stint at Fox, Collinsworth was also the host of the network show Guinness World Records Primetime.

Collinsworth joined NBC’s Sunday Night Football in 2009 to fill the color-commentator role left vacant by John Madden, and he will be in his twelfth season by 2020.

Following that, he became a part of the NBC network’s NFL coverage in 1990. Collinsworth, meanwhile, entered the NFL in 1998 as a member of the Fox franchise.

Tensions in the Broadcasting Industry

Collinsworth served as the color commentator for Super Bowl LII, and he received backlash for his supposed one-sided approach to the Patriots.

Collinsworth stated that both of the scores that necessitated replay surveys would be unhappy, despite the fact that both were correct.

He was sentenced for failing to notice Zach Ertz’s transformation into a sprinter.

He also stated that he had stopped doing replay surveys. His editorial did not go over well with his fans.

Al Michaels defended Collinsworth after two or three days, claiming that the principles, not Collinsworth, were to blame.

Honorable Mention

In 1998, the Phenomenal wide receiver won a Sports Emmy Award for “Outstanding Studio Analyst.” Cris was also inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2001.

Moreover, he was again awarded Sports Emmy Awards two times in 2003 and 2004 respectively as an “Outstanding Sports Personality/Studio Analyst.”

Similarly, he was again recognized with the same award in 2006.

Foundation

Collinsworth believes in the concept of giving back to society. He has initiated the Cris Collinsworth ProScan Fund (CCPF) (CCPF).

CCPF is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 and based in Cincinnati, United States.

The organization aims to fight breast cancer by providing support, education, and early detection services, including free mammograms, to women. For this purpose, they organize Pink Ribbon Programs.

Similarly, it also aims to empower children by fostering self-esteem, critical thinking, and sportsmanship through the game of chess.

For this purpose, they organize the Queen City Classic Chess Programs.

Company

Cris runs a football data and analysis company known as Pro Football Focus. The company grades every player’s performance from each play they participate in.

He remembers being a paying subscriber of Pro Football Focus, until 2012 when he developed a curiosity about how the company functions.

He then contacted the company, asking them whether they are coaches or someone else. Neil Hornsby, who was indulged in the company since then, called Collinsworth.

Hornsby sold a majority share of the company to Cris in 2014, and since then, Cris earns a big bulk of its income from the company.

Politics

In Trump vs. NFL player debate, the Republican president didn’t like seeing some players kneeling down in protest during the national anthem.

Collinsworth called out Trump and spoke that an apology from him would go a long way.

However, he is not a liberal media guy. He is, in fact, a Republican. Being from the GOP, he still called out Trump.

Cris’s indulgence in politics has been on and off since the beginning of his NFL career. He leans towards the right. He also made donations to Kentucky Republican Party in 2004.

Moreover, his late father’s name was Abraham Lincoln Collinsworth, as the man was born on Lincoln’s birthday.

Cris once said in an interview that his father was as much of a republican as Abraham Lincoln was.

Apology

Cris apologized to the female football fans for a remark that he made in the Wednesday night football game.

In the match between Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, Cris said that he was blown away by queries made by female football fans in Pittsburgh. He made this statement:

The statement might not look offensive at first instance, but it is demeaning and promotes the stereotype that ‘football is not for females.’

Living in the 21st century, where we fight for equity in every little area, one cannot have the prejudice that females’ knowledge about football is inferior to that of males’. People in influential positions like Cris should be even more careful.

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Wife, Children, and Personal Life

Cris Collinsworth’s personal life includes his marriage to Holly Bankemper.

Austin Collinsworth, Katie Collinsworth, Jack Collinsworth, and Ashley Collinsworth are the couple’s children.

Collinsworth is currently residing in Fort Thomas, Kentucky with his family. Collinsworth is a philanthropist in addition to his professional life.

Social Media Presence

Collinsworth is very regular when it comes to social media. He is very active on Facebook and Instagram.

The former wide receiver has 16.7 followers on Instagram and 6.8k followers, with 6.5k on the Facebook page as of today.