FOX Sports NFL analyst Greg Olsen was a guest on the Front Office Sports Today podcast. He talked about his new startup company Youth Inc. and also got into the topic everyone wants to know about which is this upcoming football season and him being bumped down to the No. 2 team to make room for Tom Brady.
Host Owen Poindexter asked Olsen if he is approaching his job any differently now that he is longer on the No. 1 team.
“No,” he said. “I have been very clear, on the record, numerous times since I jumped into this field in 2021 following my retirement from playing. My goal is to be the best. My goal is that our crew is looked at as the best. And that’s not just about me, that’s about my partner, that’s about our sideline analyst, that’s about our production team, our producer, our director and the guys and girls in the truck. So, it is something I’m very passionate about, it’s something that I’m very competitive in.
“When I was the No. 2 crew before I said my goal is to be the No. 1. Then I had the opportunity to be elevated alongside a really good friend, Kevin Burkhardt, and be the No. 1 for the last two years and call Super Bowls and call record setting audiences and record setting games and really had a great time doing it. Now, obviously the circumstances have changed with Tom coming and understanding what all the ramifications of all that means. It doesn’t change [what I do], I’m excited to work with Joe. I think that Joe an I’s goal is very much the same. This is not a disrespect to anyone at our network or disrespect to anyone at other networks, but I don’t see our path changing. I think the goal is that we are the best team out there and that’s what we are working towards.
“Hopefully that’s what the public will respond to and hopefully they continue to enjoy our broadcast as they have in the past. Obviously, I’ll miss Kevin, I’ll miss Erin and Tom and some of my really good friends. We talk almost daily if not a couple times a week and they’ll forever be close friends of mine. They were a huge, huge help to my growth. But I’m excited for my new team and I’m excited to grow with Joe and learn each other. My aspirations are still to be a No. 1 analyst whether it’s at FOX or elsewhere and that will never change as long as I do this. I’m not just content to be there, I ‘m not just happy to have a seat, I want the top seat and I want that wherever that opportunity allows. And I’ll never stop working for that. I feel more motivated for that now than ever.”
Olsen also talked about having a conversation recently with Tom Brady and that the two didn’t really know each other on a personal level, they had just been two competitors playing against each other. Now, they have something else in common and both offered to be a resource for the other.
“I’ve had a chance to talk with [Tom] and told him I’ll be as much of a resource as I can. From doing this the last couple of years, maybe I have some insight that would help in his transition. And he has been super grateful and humble coming on board so that process has been great but listen I would be lying if I [didn’t say] I’d love to be that guy calling the Super Bowl this year…My hunger, my approach, my aspirations if anything have just gotten stronger.
“I made it very clear to him I want to be a great teammate, I want to be a great resource at whatever level I can be, and he echoed the exact same sentiment.”
