Greg Olsen on Life Behind Tom Brady at Fox as the No. 1 Analyst for a No. 2 Team

September 13, 2024

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Greg Olsen on Life Behind Tom Brady at Fox as the No. 1 Analyst for a No. 2 Team

Greg Olsen is in a strange position. He’s a legitimate NFL television analyst, a proven asset after a stellar 2023 season that saw him consistently deliver second-tier analysis, including the most important game an NFL commentator can cover: the Super Bowl.

But because Fox Corp. has hired Tom Brady, and because it would be unthinkable from a marketing standpoint not to put the most famous NFL player in history on your top broadcast team — especially one with a 10-year, $375 million contract — Olsen will have to cover games this season with Joe Davis and Pam Oliver on Fox’s No. 2 team.

Olsen is well aware of the calculation before him. He approached the 2023 season with the overarching goal of making Fox Sports’ decision to replace him on the No. 1 team as difficult as possible for CEO Eric Shanks and executive producer Brad Zager. He did that with his performance. But the reality of the situation is that there was no decision. It was Brady’s chair if Brady came, and Brady is here.

You may not have watched Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Atlanta Falcons game, but those who did saw Olsen start the 2024 season right where he left off. His greatest strength as an analyst is his ability to see things off the ball. That’s partly the result of watching the game from the tight end position for 14 NFL seasons.

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“The quarterbacks drive the league and the game, but there’s so much going on on the field,” Olsen said last week. “There’s a lot of interesting and exciting things happening off the ball, and honestly, without that kind of stuff, there’s no throw, there’s no catch, there’s no run. I try to make our broadcast, when you watch it, you learn a little bit about the offensive line, you learn a little bit about coverage pressure, you learn a little bit about pass protection, but you still follow the ball and the quarterback, because that’s critical to the game and the enjoyment of it.

“When people walk away from a game that I’m at, I hope their biggest takeaway is that this guy loves football. This guy loves everything, the good, the bad, the ugly games, the blowouts, the exciting fourth quarters and everything in between. I don’t believe people tune in because of the broadcast teams. I think the broadcast teams make the viewing experience better, but I don’t think they necessarily drive the experience. That said, I hope people come away from our games and think, ‘I heard two or three things in this game today that nobody explained to me.'”

There was an easy transition to Sunday’s broadcast in Atlanta, in part because Olsen’s new production crew is also his old crew. He and Kevin Burkhardt worked during the 2021 season — when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were still in Fox’s No. 1 booth — with producer Pete Macheska and director Artie Kempner, who produce Fox’s No. 2 team. Olsen and Davis previously called games together when Burkhardt had baseball responsibilities in October.

“It’s not just looking at things from an offensive or defensive perspective — he can talk from the coordinators’ perspective or with knowledge as if he were an executive,” Davis said of Olsen this week. “I don’t want to use the word brilliant too often, but he’s got as multifaceted a perspective as I could ever imagine. I’m sure there will be No. 1 gigs that open up eventually, and I’m sure he’d be at the top of the list. … Selfishly, and I know I’m being selfish for Fox, I hope to be his partner as long as I can.”

Olsen said he has no animosity toward Brady and doesn’t see him as a rival in the broadcasting world. He said he got to know Brady a little during the offseason and applauds his success.

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“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Tom personally and professionally, just getting different thoughts and perspectives from him,” Olsen said. “Tom and I always had a somewhat professional relationship. We’d see each other before and after games. It was very superficial, mostly happiness and a respectful relationship. But over the last six or seven months, we’ve had a lot more personal conversations and time together. I told him, ‘Dude, I’m here to help in any way I can. I haven’t been doing this for 20 years, but more than anyone else in the industry, I understand the transition you’re going through because it’s the same transition I’ve made.’ You go straight from playing to suddenly calling the Super Bowl and the biggest games of the week. I think I have a perspective that he can rely on.

“I want him to do well. I want him to be successful. I want him to feel like I’m a good teammate. It’s no different than if he walked into the locker room when I was a player and we happened to play the same position. My success is not dependent on Tom. Just because Tom is really good doesn’t make me any less good, and just because Tom is bad doesn’t make me any better. Fox has two great teams, and that’s how I see it. But I’ve talked to Joe about this: I want people to think that Joe and I are the best crew on television. It doesn’t matter that we’re the ‘B’ crew.”

Brady’s debut broadcast was mixed at best, but barring something unexpected, Super Bowl LIX will be Brady and Burkhardt on February 9. However, Fox Sports would have to find a creative way to make Olsen a key part of the Super Bowl coverage. My suggestion would be to have Olsen on the field and occasionally use him as a unique second analyst on a few plays. It would be a creative use of his talent.

“I would love to be a part of the Super Bowl, but nobody has told me about it today,” Olsen said. “Whether that’s the plan or not, I don’t know. But I would love to be a part of it. There are a lot of different ways to weave different talent into a broadcast, but we haven’t had any conversations about it yet.”