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Norman Julius " Boomer" Esiason (; born April 17, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and was selected in the second round of the 1984 NFL draft by the Bengals, where he spent 10 seasons. Esiason was also a member of the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals.
Esiason's most successful season was in 1988 when he won NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) and led the Bengals to an appearance in Super Bowl XXIII, which ended in a close defeat. He was also named to four and one first-team All-Pro. After nine years in Cincinnati, Esiason spent three seasons with the Jets and one season with the Cardinals before returning to the Bengals for his final season in 1997.
Since retiring from football, Esiason has worked as a football analyst for CBS Sports on The NFL Today and Showtime's Inside the NFL and was previously with ABC Sports, HBO, and Westwood One. He also hosts the morning sports radio program Boomer and Gio on WFAN in New York.
He attended Timber Point Elementary and East Islip High School, where he graduated in 1979. In high school, he was a three-sport varsity player in football, basketball, and baseball.
Esiason's teammate from Maryland, defensive end Pete Koch, was taken by the Bengals with the 16th pick in the first round of the same draft. Koch lasted just one season in Cincinnati and five total in the NFL.
At 6'-5" and 224 pounds, and with a powerful arm, Esiason was the signal caller on one of the most potent offenses of the late 1980s.
Boomer got his first pro start on October 7, 1984, in a home game against the Houston Oilers. On a rainy day, he led the Bengals to a 13–3 win over Houston, and scored the game's only touchdown on a three-yard run. He took over for Ken Anderson as the Bengals' full-time starting quarterback on September 22, 1985, in a 44–41 home loss to the San Diego Chargers and future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts. Although well short of Anderson's rushing total of over 2,200 yards, Esiason was surprisingly mobile, rushing for 1,598 yards on 447 attempts and scoring seven touchdowns by this point in his career. He became particularly adept at running the difficult "no huddle" offense devised by Bengals head coach Sam Wyche.
On December 21, 1986, the final game of the 1986 season, Esiason set a team record by throwing five touchdown passes, as the Bengals defeated the New York Jets 52–21. He also set the team single season passing record of 3,959 yards in this game. It was the last game of Bengals' quarterback Ken Anderson's playing career.
After leading Cincinnati to six straight wins to begin the 1988 season, Esiason set a dismal single game team record on October 16 by throwing 5 interceptions in a 27–21 loss to the New England Patriots. The team finished the season 12–4, utilizing the highest scoring offense in the NFL, and securing the organization's fifth AFC Central division title. Esiason finished the season as the NFL's top rated passer. However, he had sprained his left ankle and the index finger on his throwing hand in the last regular-season game of the season. In the playoffs, Cincinnati, bolstered by rushing, defeated first the Seattle Seahawks and then the Buffalo Bills to reach Super Bowl XXIII, the franchise's second appearance in a Super Bowl (after Super Bowl XVI), as they faced off with the team they had lost to the first time around, the San Francisco 49ers.
The Super Bowl was a tight affair that saw a 3–3 halftime score, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history. Still marred by a sore arm, Esiason threw for 144 yards on 11-of-25 passing with an interception. Cincinnati had their points come on a kickoff return by Stanford Jennings and three field goals by Jim Breech. Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups dropped what seemed like a sure interception in the end zone when they were up 13–6 on a drive that led to a San Francisco touchdown. Despite this, they led 16–13 with three minutes remaining and San Francisco deep in their own territory. The 49ers, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, marched 92 yards on their last drive, scoring on a touchdown pass to receiver John Taylor with 34 seconds remaining in the game. A last-ditch pass by Esiason to wide receiver Cris Collinsworth was broken up, resulting in a 20–16 loss for the Bengals.
On October 29, 1989, Esiason tied his own record for touchdown passes in a game with five, as the Bengals demolished the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 56–23. In that same game, the Bengals tied a team record with eight touchdowns.
On October 7, 1990, he threw for 490 yards (a single game team passing record) in a 34–31 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Esiason was released by the Jets after the 1995 season.
On December 21, 1997, Esiason played his last NFL game. He threw two touchdowns on the day, with a 79-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Darnay Scott being his last touchdown pass in a 16–14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
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Among the awards he has earned during his career include the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1988 (leading the league with a passer rating of 97.4), and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 1995 for his charitable work. At his retirement in 1997 he finished in the top 10 all-time in many QB career statistical categories.
Football Nation ranks him as the 25th greatest quarterback of the post-merger era.
Esiason was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame in the Football Category with the Class of 1990. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2023, the Bengals inducted Esiason into their Ring of Honor.
He made two appearances on the game show Family Feud. On March 18, 1989, he appeared in the episode "Bengals v. 49ers", reminiscent of their latest Super Bowl match. In 1993, his second Family Feud appearance came in the episode "NFC v. AFC".
He authored a children's reader in 1995 titled A Boy Named Boomer and co-wrote (with Lowell Cauffiel) a 1998 novel titled Toss.
He co-hosted the Miss America Pageant with Meredith Vieira on September 19, 1998, and co-hosted with Julie Chen Moonves the CBS broadcast of the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
He and partner Craig Carton served as judges on the May 29, 2011, episode of Iron Chef America.
He has co-hosted Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials from 2012 to 2023.
He made a cameo appearance as himself on the October 3, 2014, episode of Blue Bloods.
In 2015, he became the Commissioner of the FFL (Feline Football League) for Kitten Bowl II on the Hallmark Channel, and still holds that position today. He has provided analysis and commentary for all the Kitten Bowls since Kitten Bowl II, which airs during half time of the Super Bowl.
Esiason launched Game Time with Boomer Esiason, interviews with sports personalities from the past, on Saturday September 14, 2019.
As planned, after broadcasting the Thursday Night Football game on September 6, 2018, he left Westwood One. He was quoted as saying "I’m going to miss it, but in all reality I kind of have to get part of my life back." He currently serves as an in-studio analyst Inside the NFL on Showtime, and hosts Boomer and Gio on WFAN Radio in New York and the CBS Sports Network. In September 2012, CBS Radio announced he was added to their collection of talent to deliver five sports updates per day Monday through Friday. Esiason was also an analyst for The NFL Today on CBS television from 2002 through 2023.
Starting in 2013, he began appearing once a week as a guest on The Jim Rome Show during the NFL season to break down the upcoming weekend's NFL action.
Craig Carton was arrested in September 2017 and charged with operating a concert ticket Ponzi scheme. Carton then resigned from WFAN, leaving Esiason as the sole host of the show, which was rebranded The Morning Show with Boomer. Gregg Giannotti joined Boomer as permanent co-host starting on January 2, 2018, with the show rechristened as Boomer and Gio.
Esiason and his family have lived in the village of Plandome, New York, since at least 1998.
Esiason is an avid ice hockey fan, and a devoted supporter of the New York Rangers. He is also a fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks. As of 2019, he plays in up to 70 recreational-league hockey games a year. Gunnar and his father are teammates on their local hockey team. Esiason plays in the annual Mikey Strong Charity Hockey game with NHL alumni. His foundation sponsors the annual Guinness Cup Hockey Tournament.
In 1996, Esiason formed a partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald and Howard Lutnick (CEO) as the foundation offices were moved to the North Tower of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan on the 101st floor, which was destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 attacks. All five full-time employees survived, as none were in the building at the time, but "Esiason figured he knew over 100 people personally" who were killed in the attack, including his best friend Tim O'Brien who was a partner at Cantor.
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