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This will be one of the wildest years in recent sports TV history as Troy Aikman and Joe Buck of ESPN, and Kirk Herbstreit of Amazon Prime Video, enter the final seasons of their current contracts. Lest we forget, Tony Romo’s future at CBS Sports is up in the air after his OWI arrest and the release of an embarrassing police-cam video showing the ex-Cowboys quarterback failing sobriety tests.
But for my money, the talent with the most to gain—and least to lose—in this Game of Thrones is Fox Sports’s Greg Olsen.
The 41-year-old Olsen’s current deal with Fox is also up after this season. The network’s No. 2 game analyst behind Tom Brady will likely emerge from this game of musical chairs with a lead color commentator job at one of the NFL media partners. The talented Olsen could potentially land at CBS, Amazon, or ESPN, or even take back his No. 1 job at Fox. Here’s why:
Total Package
At a relatively young age, Olsen is already the total package for a NFL network/streamer looking for somebody to serve as its face and voice for the next decade.
Over five years, Olsen made a meteoric rise at Fox, going from Panthers tight end to Fox’s No. 1 analyst. He called Super Bowl LVII with Kevin Burkhardt in 2023. Yes, he lost the No. 1 job to Brady the past two seasons. Despite Tom Terrific’s vast improvement last season, there are many who believe Olsen’s still the better game analyst.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences agrees: Olsen upset Brady, Aikman, and NBC Sports’s Cris Collinsworth to win the Sports Emmy for “Outstanding Personality/Event Analyst” in May. In today’s sports-driven media world, top NFL game analysts have replaced network news anchors as the living symbol of their corporations; look no further than Brady emceeing Fox’s upfront pitch to advertisers this year.
Despite not being as famous as Brady, Aikman, or Romo, Olsen has the charisma and chops to pull it off.
Romo Benched
The most obvious potential No. 1 job opening for Olsen is CBS.
Romo has been put on indefinite “leave,” with No. 2 analyst J.J. Watt bumped up to the lead team alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. CBS boss David Berson loves Watt. But the 37-year-old still only has one year of calling games under his belt, as he spent the first two years as a studio analyst on The NFL Today.
Is CBS ready to hand Watt the keys to the kingdom? Especially if that means breaking up his promising partnership with play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle? Or could it hire Olsen to both replace Romo and give itself arguably the best 1-2 combo of analysts across any network?
Thursday Night Football?
The next obvious opening would be Prime. There’s been growing chatter about a new booth for the streaming giant. The 56-year-old Herbstreit has done a great job, and his play-by-play partner, 81-year-old Al Michaels, is a living legend. But Herbstreit is the face of college football. With his crazy game schedule, not to mention College GameDay, I could see him stepping away from TNF to focus on CFB duties at ESPN (as usual, Michaels is year-to-year).
Prime’s Jay Marine told me at last year’s Tuned In that Amazon wants to land the Super Bowl one day. Enter Olsen, who already has Super Bowl experience, as Herbstreit’s heir apparent?
The Brady Factor
I recently wrote a column asking: Is the 49-year old Brady having a mid-life crisis? Besides his role as Fox’s No. 1 game analyst, the bachelor QB is flirting with a move into pro wrestling, feuding with Logan Paul, juggling his role as part-owner of the Raiders, and endorsing everything not nailed down.
Maybe the football legend is just letting off some steam after being paroled from Bill Belichick’s Patriots penitentiary. But you have to ask yourself: Is Brady already bored with TV? In that case, Olsen could simply reunite with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, on Fox’s No. 1 team.
Yes, the idea of Olsen succeeding Aikman at ESPN is a long shot. But the 59-year-old Aikman’s been on TV for 25 years. He and Buck are poised to call their seventh Super Bowl in February. Aikman, a three-time Super Bowl winner, has talked about running an NFL team and consulted for the Dolphins this past offseason. Maybe the Hall of Fame QB wants a final act away from the TV cameras. Never say never.
Escape Clause
Olsen’s current Fox deal contains a critical clause allowing him to jump if he gets an offer as No. 1 game analyst at a competitor, say sources.
Yes, that will be moot after this season. But there’s still a lot of time between now and the conclusion of Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14. Anything can happen. Just ask Aikman and Buck, who completely reset the chessboard by leaving Fox after 21 years and jumping to ESPN’s Monday Night Football in 2022.
As for Romo, we could get a bit more clarity on Tuesday as CBS stages its annual press preview for the new season. The 46-year-old ex-Cowboys quarterback is due in court on Sep. 21. It’s still unclear if Watt’s promotion will be temporary.
