We’ve never seen an NFL offseason in sports media like the one that just passed. Nearly all of the industry’s biggest names and most prominent voices switched networks for new gigs, enormous salaries, and major expectations.
Al Michaels is no longer calling NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will headline Monday Night Football for ESPN. Those moves also elevated broadcasters including Kevin Burkhardt and Joe Davis to higher-profile roles.
But with the 2022 NFL season set to kick off, which broadcast team — whether at a new network or in a new pairing — faces the most pressure during the next six months? Who has the largest uphill climb to make with viewers? Who will thrive in their new roles? Will any of them falter?
These five NFL broadcast teams will likely be most closely examined during the season:
5. Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, NBC
Yes, I know. The Sunday Night Football team shouldn’t even be on this list. Tirico and Collinsworth are under no pressure. And they’re not really a “new team,” working together plenty of times already — most recently when Al Michaels took “bye weeks” during the past three seasons.
Tirico has called NFL broadcasts for 17 years, including ESPN’s Monday Night Football for 10 seasons and Thursday Night Football when NBC had that package for two years. Collinsworth has been broadcasting for more than 30 years, including the past 13 on SNF.
4. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, ESPN
With 20 years together as broadcast partners, there won’t be any questions of chemistry and fit between Buck and Aikman. The two would still be Fox’s No. 1 NFL broadcast team if not for the unforeseen circumstances that led to them moving to ESPN and Monday Night Football.
Buck and Aikman will face some scrutiny headlining an MNF brand that’s been problematic for ESPN since Jon Gruden returned to NFL coaching. The two are also being paid extremely well in their new gig. Aikman will reportedly earn more than $90 million over five years, while Buck is getting up to $75 million during the same span. That kind of money comes with expectations.
3. Joe Davis and Daryl Johnston, Fox
Here’s where the close inspection from critics and viewers may begin. Davis takes over Kevin Burkhardt’s role on Fox’s No. 2 NFL broadcast team. But we’re talking about a broadcaster who succeeded Vin Scully on Los Angeles Dodgers telecasts and will replace Joe Buck as Fox’s top MLB play-by-play voice. He’s taken big steps up before.
Davis has previously called some NFL games for Fox as a fill-in, while primarily calling college football and basketball, along with MLB, for the network. He’ll just draw bigger assignments now. Meanwhile, Johnston may face the least pressure of any broadcaster on this list. He’s presumably keeping the No. 2 analyst seat warm for Greg Olsen once Tom Brady retires and becomes Kevin Burkhardt’s partner.
2. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, Amazon
Amazon couldn’t have hired a better play-by-play announcer than Michaels to look like a legitimate operation in its first season of exclusively streaming Thursday Night Football. No other voice brings more of a “big event” feel to an NFL broadcast. Michaels was in high demand after leaving NBC, rumored to be moving to ESPN or Fox during the past offseason.
Herbstreit is a curious partner, however, considering that most of his broadcasting experience is with college football. According to rumors, Amazon preferred a bigger name like Aikman, Sean McVay, or Sean Payton. But Herbstreit has dabbled in calling NFL telecasts during the past few seasons, creating an appetite for the professional game.
The big question will be whether or not his college football obligations — heading ESPN’s College GameDay panel and calling ABC’s Saturday night telecast — will create too heavy a workload with TNF through the season.
1. Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, Fox
“America’s Game of the Week” on Fox isn’t an entirely new venture like Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. But taking over for the longest-running NFL broadcast team in Buck and Aikman creates some great expectations. Burkhardt and Olsen will call Super Bowl LVII. Fortunately, Fox has been developing the two broadcasters for bigger roles.
It could be an adjustment for viewers not to have the “big game” voices of Buck and Aikman with the showcase 4 p.m. ET match-up on Fox. But the audience will quickly come around because the games will feature top NFL teams and stars with division standings and playoff positioning at stake, in addition to potential postseason and Super Bowl pairings.
Burkhardt and Olsen are going into their second full NFL season together, after also working together on XFL telecasts. So they have familiarity and a chemistry to build upon. The shame of it might be that the pairing could have a short shelf life, depending on when Brady retires and bumps Olsen out of Fox’s No. 1 analyst seat. Yet it’s doubtful that will have any effect on their work this season.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
