ESPN NFL Analyst — Former Indianapolis Colts & Green Bay Packers Center
Jeff Saturday's Rolex Submariner: The Undrafted Centre Who Anchored a Dynasty Wears the Watch That Never Goes Out of Style
Undrafted in 1998. Cut by Baltimore without playing a game. Took a job managing an electrical supply store. Then a teammate walked uninvited into a general manager's office and changed everything. Jeff Saturday spent thirteen seasons as the best centre in the AFC, won a Super Bowl, earned six Pro Bowls, negotiated a landmark CBA, and was inducted into the Colts Ring of Honor. Now an ESPN analyst. On his wrist: a Rolex Submariner — the watch that rewards exactly the same qualities his career required.
| Jeff Saturday — Rolex Submariner on wrist. Source: ESPN |
Jeff Saturday — Super Bowl champion, six-time Pro Bowl centre, ESPN analyst, Colts Ring of Honor |
Jeffrey Bryant Saturday was born June 18, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia, attended Shamrock High School in Decatur, and played college football at the University of North Carolina, captaining the team for two years and earning first-team All-ACC honours in 1996 and 1997. He graduated with a degree in business and was ranked eleventh among centres available in the 1998 NFL Draft. He was not selected. The Baltimore Ravens signed him as an undrafted free agent, then cut him seven weeks later without him playing a game. He returned to North Carolina and took a job managing an electrical supply store in Raleigh. He was still there during the 1998 NFL season.
His former college teammate Nate Hobgood-Chittick, on the Indianapolis Colts roster, walked uninvited into GM Bill Polian's office in dirty sweats and told him there was a man selling electrical supplies in Raleigh who had outperformed every first-round draft pick at North Carolina. The Colts called. Saturday signed. He started all 16 games at centre in his second season and then started every game thereafter for the next twelve years. He was the anchor of the offensive line that protected Peyton Manning throughout the Colts dynasty — the line that allowed the fewest sacks in the league for three consecutive seasons. In the 2006 AFC Championship Game, he recovered a fumble for a touchdown and then delivered what Manning called "The Block," pancaking Vince Wilfork to spring the game-winning run. Two weeks later, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI. He earned six Pro Bowl selections in total, two first-team All-Pro honours, and the NFL Alumni Offensive Lineman of the Year award in 2007. He finished his playing career with the Green Bay Packers in 2012, earning his sixth Pro Bowl under Aaron Rodgers, and was inducted into the Colts Ring of Honor in 2015.
Off the field, Saturday served on the executive committee of the NFL Players' Association and was the lead negotiator for the players in the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement that ended the NFL lockout — a role that required exactly the intelligence his coaches had described for two decades. He joined ESPN in 2013 and has appeared on Get Up, NFL Live, and First Take since. In 2022, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay named him interim head coach following the firing of Frank Reich, a tenure that produced a 1–7 record before he returned to broadcasting the following season. He continues to appear regularly across ESPN's NFL coverage.
"There's a guy selling electrical supplies in Raleigh right now who whipped all those first-round draft choices at North Carolina." — Nate Hobgood-Chittick, to Colts GM Bill Polian, 1998
Timepiece
Rolex Submariner
The Rolex Submariner was introduced in 1953 as the first wristwatch rated waterproof to 100 metres — a specification later increased to 300 metres (1,000 feet). In the seventy-plus years since, it has become the benchmark against which all sports watches are measured, and arguably the most recognisable watch in the world. The current reference is the 126610LN, introduced in 2020 with a 41mm Oystersteel case (up from 40mm), a black Cerachrom ceramic bezel insert, a black dial with Chromalight luminescent display, and Rolex's calibre 3235 movement — one of the most accurate and reliable automatic movements in production, with a 70-hour power reserve. The Oyster bracelet with Glidelock clasp allows fine wrist adjustment without tools.
What distinguishes the Submariner from nearly every other sports watch is its combination of functional precision and visual restraint. It does not announce itself. The Cerachrom bezel resists scratching and UV fading indefinitely. The movement is serviced and will run for decades. The design has not required fundamental change since 1953 because the original design was correct. For a professional whose career was defined by reliability over recognition — an offensive lineman who succeeded by leaving no evidence of failure — the Submariner is the appropriate watch. It works in the background, does what it promises, and ages without apology.
| Reference | 126610LN — Submariner Date, black dial & bezel |
| Case | 41mm Oystersteel — introduced 2020 |
| Bezel | Unidirectional rotatable, black Cerachrom ceramic insert — virtually scratchproof |
| Movement | Calibre 3235 — automatic, 70-hour power reserve, Superlative Chronometer certified |
| Water resistance | 300 metres / 1,000 feet |
| Bracelet | Oyster with Glidelock extension clasp — tool-free micro-adjustment |
| Market price | ~$10,100 retail / $14,000–$16,000 secondary market (2025) |
The Watch for the Position Nobody Cheers
Offensive linemen succeed by leaving no evidence of failure. Nobody cheers the centre. Nobody wears his jersey. The stat line for a great performance is blank — no sacks allowed, no penalties, no missed assignments. Jeff Saturday played that position for fourteen seasons, protected one of the most valuable quarterbacks in the sport, and built a career whose highlights are defined almost entirely by the absence of negative outcomes. The Rolex Submariner operates from the same philosophy: it does not draw attention to itself, does not demand to be noticed, and simply performs to specification for decades without requiring management. Its design has not needed fundamental revision since 1953 because the original design was correct. Saturday's career as a centre was built on the same premise.
The Submariner is also the watch of substance over status — a distinction that matters on the wrist of someone whose biography begins with being undrafted, cut without playing a game, and managing an electrical supply store while the league continued without him. The watch that has retained and grown in value for seventy years on the strength of what it does rather than what it represents is an appropriate companion for a career built on the same principle.
A Second Sighting
This is the second time Spot.Watch has spotted Jeff Saturday wearing a Rolex Submariner on the ESPN set — the first sighting was captured earlier. A consistent choice of watch across multiple sightings tells you something more definitive than a single spot: this is not a watch worn for appearances or occasion, but an everyday companion. The Submariner on Saturday's wrist at ESPN is the same watch that would have been on his wrist at a Colts facility, at a negotiating table during the 2011 lockout, at a high school football pitch in Georgia. It is a watch for all conditions and all contexts — which is, as it happens, exactly what a centre needs to be.
More Rolex Submariner Spots on Spot.Watch
- Jeff Saturday (ESPN Get Up) — Rolex Submariner
- Jack Selby — Rolex Submariner
- Brian Simpson — Rolex Submariner
- Jerome Powell — Rolex Submariner
- Shane Gillis — Rolex Submariner
- Ryan Clark (Monday Night Football) — Rolex Submariner
- Henry Cejudo — Rolex Submariner
- Mark Consuelos — Rolex Submariner
- Adam Devine — Rolex Submariner
- Will Arnett (Agree to Disagree) — Rolex Submariner
- Graham Stephan — Rolex Datejust & Submariner Date
And at Spot.Watch — that's always worth noticing.
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