NFL fans will still hear Joe Buck calling the action on Monday nights on ESPN this season, but when there is a double-header or the network is carrying a game that isn’t on Monday night, they will hear a new voice. The role that belonged to Steve Levy last season will be filled by Chris Fowler in 2023.
Andrew Marchand reports that Fowler will step into the number two play-by-play role for ESPN’s NFL coverage. That has him currently scheduled for five games this season. One of them is an international game.
Chris Fowler just signed a new deal with Disney last month. Amidst the company’s layoffs, he reportedly had to take less than he had hoped for. Marchand speculates the new NFL assignment was the company’s way of extending an olive branch to Fowler.
This now has both members of ABC’s top college football booth pulling double duty with the NFL. Last year, Kirk Herbstreit debuted as the lead analyst on Amazon’s coverage of Thursday Night Football.
No other changes to ESPN’s number two NFL booth have been announced. If the analysts from last season return, Chris Fowler will be working his games with Louis Riddick and Dan Orlovsky.
