No one wants Tom Brady to return to the NFL next season more than former NFL tight end Greg Olsen.
“It sucks,” Olsen said about the possibility of Brady retiring and joining Fox’s No. 1 NFL broadcasting team with play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt.
Olsen served as an analyst with Burkhardt this season on Fox, receiving kudos for his work.
Brady briefly retired during the last offseason and signed a 10-year, $375 million contract to join Fox Sports. He reconsidered and announced his decision to return to Tampa Bay in 2022.
Despite some gaudy stats, Brady had the most disappointing season of his career, and some — including former Bucs QB Shaun King — believe it’s time for him to retire for good.
That would be bad news for Olsen and football fans.
Olsen has become one of the sport’s best broadcasters, offering a fresh perspective as the rare non-QB to get a prominent position in broadcasting.
“My goal was to try to do the best job that I could. Give people a fun listen. Give people maybe a little bit of a different perspective and insight into the game,” said Olsen on ESPN Chicago 1000 AM’s “Waddle and Silvy.”
He’s certainly done that, and his work hasn’t gone unrecognized. During the NFC divisional-round game between Dallas and San Francisco, he received an outpouring of social media praise.
If Brady enters broadcasting, it will be the latest change to the league’s top booths.
After 20 years together at Fox, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left for ESPN before the 2022 season. Also during last offseason, Al Michaels left NBC after 16 years to partner with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to call “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon.
Olsen will fall down the broadcasting hierarchy whenever Brady retires, possibly as soon as next season.
That would throw the viewers for a loss.
