Sports Emmy® Award-winning studio show “INSIDE THE NFL” returns to SHOWTIME for a ninth consecutive season on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT to kick off its 39th season on television.

This season’s cast features the return of three-time Sports Emmy Award winning host James Brown alongside longtime “INSIDE THE NFL” on SHOWTIME analyst and two-time Super Bowl champion Phil Simms, NFL MVP and four-time Pro Bowler Boomer Esiason and N.Y. Jets’ wide receiver Brandon Marshall, the only active NFL player to appear as a weekly analyst on a national television series. Hall of Fame receiver and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin will join the cast as guest analyst throughout the season, and Adam Schein also returns to the show as a contributor and guest host.

“INSIDE THE NFL” covers every game, every week, with trademark highlights from NFL Films, special in-depth features and spirited debate on the game’s hottest topics. The show is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films with new episodes premiering every Tuesday night on SHOWTIME during the NFL season through Feb. 7, 2016.

“After nearly forty years, INSIDE THE NFL remains a bastion of sports television,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “The series is relevant and fresh, not only because it delivers the most unique and compelling highlight packages available anywhere, but our studio team consistently delivers the most thoughtful and eloquent debate on the game’s most provocative characters and most polarizing topics. It is the show the pros watch.”

As an All-Pro quarterback and Super Bowl XXI MVP, Simms led the N.Y. Giants to two Super Bowl titles. He completed 22-of-25 passes in Super Bowl XXI as the Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39-20, to win their first Super Bowl. He was the Giants’ first selection in the 1979 NFL Draft, was selected for the 1985 and 1993 Pro Bowls and was named 1985 Pro Bowl MVP. Simms joined the CBS family in January 1998 as lead analyst for the CBS Television Network’s coverage of the NFL. This is his ninth season on “INSIDE THE NFL” on SHOWTIME and his third year on “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” on CBS Sports and NFL Network. He has participated in eighth Super Bowl’s telecasts—second most after John Madden (11).

Esiason, who quarterbacked the Cincinnati Bengals, N.Y. Jets, and Arizona Cardinals during a 14-year NFL career, was a four-time Pro Bowler and NFL MVP in 1988. After working as ABC’s NFL “MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” commentator for two years, he joined CBS Sports in February 2002 as a studio analyst for “THE NFL TODAY.” In addition to serving as a third-year analyst for “INSIDE THE NFL,” Esiason also co-hosts WFAN’s top-rated “Boomer and Carton” morning show, which is simulcast on CBS Sports Network.

Marshall, an active N.Y. Jets wide receiver, joins the “INSIDE THE NFL” cast for the third consecutive year after receiving a Sports Emmy nomination for his work on the show last season. He joined “INSIDE THE NFL” in 2014, trading uniform and cleats once a week for a suit and a microphone, as he became the first active NFL player to serve as an analyst in the show’s 37thyear. In the 2016 NFL season, Marshall set the Jets’ franchise record with 109 catches, the second-highest total of his 10-year career, along with 1,502 yards receiving and a career-best 14 touchdowns. He also became the first player in NFL history with 1,000-yard seasons with four teams, is one of only five players in NFL history to catch 100 passes in three consecutive seasons and holds the record on most receptions in any single game (21). He has been named to six Pro Bowls.

Brown returns to “INSIDE THE NFL” after a two-year hiatus. He hosted the first six seasons of the show earning four Sports Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Host category. He first joined the CBS family in 1984 serving as play-by-play announcer for the network’s NFL and college basketball coverage, the NBA Finals’ reporter, was the co-host of the weekend anthology series titled “CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday” and was the host of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. He then, hosted “FOX NFL SUNDAY” and “HBO CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING” for 12 years prior returning to CBS Sports where he served as host for the CBS Television Network’s “NFL PRE-GAME SHOW,” “THE NFL TODAY,” and college basketball play-by-play announcer, including the NCAA tournament in 2006. He has also hosted the CBS Sports Super Bowl pre-game show for its coverage of Super Bowl 50 (2016), Super Bowl XLIV (2010) and for Super Bowl XLI (2007).

In its nine seasons on SHOWTIME, “INSIDE THE NFL” has won four Sports Emmy Awards, including two for Outstanding Studio Show and has earned 21 Sports Emmy nominations. Past cast members of the storied program dating back to 1977 have included Dan Marino, Chuck Bednarik, Nick Buoniconti, Cris Carter, Cris Collinsworth, Bob Costas, Len Dawson, Jerry Glanville, Jimmy Johnson and Peter King.

“INSIDE THE NFL,” the longest-running show on cable television, is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports and Ross Ketover and Pat Kelleher of NFL Films. Pete Radovich Jr., the Emmy Award-winning Creative Director for CBS Sports, serves as coordinating producer.

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