Solomon Wilcots (born October 9, 1964) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dutie ...

in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

, a current national television analyst and broadcaster as well as a head coach in Your Call Football. Wilcots played six seasons in the league for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

and

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

Playing career

Wilcots attended

Rubidoux High School Rubidoux High School is a four-year public high school in Jurupa Valley, California. It is part of the Jurupa Unified School District, and it opened in 1959. It is one of four high schools in the district, the others being Jurupa Valley High Sch ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and ...

.Solomon Wilcots Past Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards - databaseFootball.com
He played college football at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

under coach

Bill McCartney William Paul McCartney (born August 22, 1940) is a former American football player and coach and the founder of the Promise Keepers men's ministry. He was the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder for thirteen seasons (1982–1994), ...

. He was a medical redshirt as a freshman when the Buffaloes went 1–10, but the program enjoyed a turnaround during Wilcots' time there as a defensive back with records of 7–5, 6–6, 7–4, 8–4, and three bowl appearances. He earned a degree in English literature. In the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot M ...

, he was chosen in the eighth round (215th overall) by the

. During his rookie season of 1987, he played in 12 games for the Bengals and recorded the first of his two career interceptions. In 1988, he was a starter in all 16 games, and in 1989 he played in all 16 games as a reserve defensive back. In 1990, he again played in all 16 games, including 10 as a starter. In 1991, he signed with the

, playing in all 16 games, and in 1992, his final season, he played in 16 games for the

Broadcasting career

Wilcots began his television career as a weekend sports anchor for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

Cincinnati affiliate

WLWT WLWT (channel 5) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the ...

from 1994 until 2003. During this time he spent three seasons (1998–2000) as a sideline reporter for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''

Sunday Night Football Sunday Night Football may refer to: * ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games by NBC since 2006 * ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games from 1987 to 2005 by ESPN * ...

'', for which he received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2000 for sideline reporting.CBS Sports TV Team – CBSSports.com
In 2001, Wilcots joined CBS, where he was a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and th ...

for CBS football telecasts, first paired with Ian Eagle from 2001–2008, followed by

Kevin Harlan Kevin Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS and the NBA for TNT. 2022 will be his 38th c ...

from 2009–2013, and Spero Dedes from 2014–2016. He is also an analyst on the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

's ''NFL Total Access'' show. On

, Wilcots can be seen each week on "Playbook", utilizing the same "all 22" game film that coaches and players use to preview all of the upcoming games, alongside an array of former NFL players including

Brian Baldinger Brian David Baldinger (born January 7, 1959) is a former professional American football offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. He covered Philadelphia Eagles pr ...

, Sterling Sharpe and

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former American football executive and former player who served as the General manager (American football), general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) from 20 ...

. Wilcots also is the co-host of "The Red Zone" on Sirius NFL Radio with

Marty Schottenheimer Martin Edward Schottenheimer (; September 23, 1943 – February 8, 2021) was an American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1984 to 2006. He was the head coach of the Kansas City ...

Gil Brandt Gil Brandt (born March 4, 1932) is an American former football executive who was the vice president of player personnel in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsi ...

and

Carl Banks Carl E. Banks (born August 29, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played from 1984 to 1995 for the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland B ...

. Wilcots announced his departure from CBS in May 2017. For several years, Wilcots served as a television announcer for

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

preseason games alongside Tim Brando. Wilcots is now an analyst for Sky Sports in the UK and a guest analyst for Pro Football Focus TV.

Appearances in other media

Wilcots appears as a playable player in All-Pro Football 2K8.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcots, Solomon 1964 births African-American players of American football American football cornerbacks American football safeties Cincinnati Bengals players Cleveland Browns announcers Colorado Buffaloes football players Living people Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Los Angeles Pittsburgh Steelers players National Football League announcers American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Players of American football from Riverside, California New Orleans Saints announcers 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople Sportspeople from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Riverside, California