There has been a lot of talk about what happens to Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese next season as ESPN begins assembling a new broadcast team for Monday Night Football. We got the answer on one of the three on Friday. Brian Griese isn’t just leaving Bristol. He is leaving broadcasting entirely.
Griese will still be involved in NFL football next season, but he is trading the booth for the sideline. He is set to join Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco as the 49ers’ new quarterbacks coach.
His soon-to-be former ESPN colleague Adam Schefter broke the news on Twitter, noting that the two have a relationship going back to Griese’s playing time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brian Griese has never been a coach before. He retired from the NFL after the 2008 season and followed his dad, Bob Griese, into the broadcast booth. He worked college football games for ESPN and ABC from 2009 until 2020. That is when he made the move to Monday Night Football.
Now, Griese walks into San Francisco in an offseason that will almost certainly lead to change. The 49ers drafted Trey Lance out of North Dakota State with the third overall pick last year. Whether the team declares that 2022 will be the year he assumes the starter’s role or they make him battle it out with Jimmy Garoppolo or another veteran, Brian Griese is going to have his work cut out for him.
The broadcasting industry will have to wait to see what is next for Riddick and Levy. ESPN is expected to make its hire of Troy Aikman official very soon. It is also believed that the network is heavily pursuing Joe Buck to pair with his FOX partner on Monday nights.
