It appears Greg Olsen has called his final game as Fox's lead NFL analyst.
The former three-time Pro Bowl tight end has drawn rave reviews from across the football world for his work in the broadcast booth, but it looks like he'll be passing off the microphone on Fox's No. 1 team to Tom Brady starting next season.
“That’s the way it looks, from everything we’ve been told and that’s the way it’s been trending. We’ve been planning for that for two years. We knew when we took the job that Brady was there whenever he was going to decide to come,” Olsen told The Athletic's Richard Deitsch on Tuesday.
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“But the one thing I will say is I’m damn proud of what we did for two years. I don’t know any crew — from (Kevin) Burkhardt to Erin (Andrews) and Tom (Rinaldi) to our producer, our whole truck — I don’t know if anyone produces a better football game than we do.”
Prior to the 2022 NFL season, Brady and Fox reached a reported 10-year, $375 million deal for the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback to become the network's lead analyst after he retired. Brady hung up the cleats following the 2022 campaign but decided to wait a year before moving into the booth.
While Fox was waiting for Brady's arrival, Olsen took over the lead analyst gig and formed a strong tandem with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. Olsen and Burkhardt were assigned to the network's top Sunday game each week and called Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles last year.
“Fox (decision-makers) were the ones that believed in me from the beginning. They gave me my first opportunities to do this when I was still playing back in 2017 on a bye week,” Olsen said. “No one was adamant about my future in this business as much as Fox was. I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
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While Fox hasn't announced its broadcast teams for next season, Brady told the "Front Office Sports Today" podcast on Wednesday that he's moving into Fox's lead analyst role in 2024 and won't be forming a three-man booth with Burkhardt and Olsen.
So what's next for Olsen as he makes way for Brady? The No. 2 gig at Fox? A job at a different network?
Well, Olsen told The Athletic he plans to look at “the entire spectrum of opportunities” with Fox and other networks.
“It’s hard to predict how all that plays out,” Olsen added. “But my end goal is to call premiere games at the top of the ladder and that pursuit won’t change regardless of what happens this next year with my current role.”
