With the news of Tom Brady joining FOX Sports once his career is over, the one person that it could have the most effect on going forward is Greg Olsen. This year, Olsen gets a promotion from the number two analyst to being an analyst on the A team that will call the Super Bowl with Kevin Burkhardt.
Olsen was a guest on The Adam Schefter Podcast this week and he said he appreciated that FOX was upfront in telling him about Brady joining the FOX family and he appreciates getting a chance to call the Super Bowl this year:
“It was just a long offseason of speculation and rumor and reports of who was going to get the job. We always knew we were in the mix. We [Olsen and Burkhardt] weren’t exactly sure who else was in the mix. We had some conversations over the winter.”
“When the Brady news broke, we weren’t exactly sure what that meant. We weren’t exactly sure where we fit into that picture. To FOX’s credit, they were super upfront and they called us and they said this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, but we would love you and Kevin to be back together again and call this year as the A crew and call the best game that we have.”
“It’s a great opportunity for me to do it. I don’t know if it’s going to be one year or two years. For the time being, I’m going to go out there and try to have a great year and give people a fun broadcast.”
Since Olsen decided to join FOX after his playing career, he has always wanted call the Super Bowl and be on the top team. It is something he told the network at the beginning of his broadcast career:
“I always dreamed and I always aspired and I told the folks at FOX from the beginning, listen, I’m getting into this because one day I want to call the top game, I want to aspire to call Super Bowls and playoff games and what-not, but I understand there’s a little bit of a process involved in growing into that….Never in a million years did I think in Year 2 I would get an opportunity to call a Super Bowl.”
While Olsen will be analyzing some of Tom Brady’s games this year, Brady will not be on his mind and he understands that this is a business:
“Other than when we call Bucs games, not really at all. I can’t control all that stuff. Tom Brady is Tom Brady. I get it. I’m not naïve. I understand the way things operate. I’m going to go out there and do what me and Kevin did last year and try to even get better. If that day comes, that I get replaced by Tom, I get it. In the meantime, I’m not going to be looking over my shoulder and be afraid to mess up. I’m just going to let it rip…I have no hard feelings or animosity towards Tom. I have all of the respect in the world for Tom.”
