Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen during an NFL broadcast for Fox. Photo credit: Fox
FoxNFLBy Matt Clapp on

Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen have worked as Fox’s No. 1 NFL announcing duo after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left for ESPN ahead of the 2022 season. The duo — which placed sixth on Awful Announcing’s voting-based 2022 NFL announcer rankings — has received growing praise, with Olsen’s fourth-quarter commentary during the Cowboys-49ers playoff game on Sunday especially impressing viewers.

Burkhardt and Olsen have a chemistry that’s getting better each week, and they’ll have the honor of calling the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LVII for Fox.

However, it’s unclear if Olsen will stay as the top analyst in the Fox booth for much longer.

That’s because Fox and Tom Brady agreed to a $375 million contract in 2022 to be the network’s top analyst after he retires.

But we don’t have any idea when Brady — who turns 46 in August — is going to retire from the NFL. He even told Jim Gray on their Let’s Go! podcast on Tuesday, “If I knew what I was going to f—ing do I would’ve already f—ing done it. I’m taking it a day at a time.”

Many in the industry have been skeptical that Brady would actually follow through on the Fox duties. Buck said in November, “I know there are people at Fox who would say there’s a chance that he doesn’t call a game there.”

Well, Olsen appeared on the ESPN 1000 Chicago radio show Waddle and Silvy on Tuesday and was asked about the situation with Brady, Fox, and what it could mean for Olsen’s future in the booth.

Olsen had a good sense of humor about it all, but made it clear that he’d like to remain in the No. 1 booth for Fox.

“If Brady ends up retiring and coming… and that’s how everything unfolds, it sucks… But at the end of the day, I’m a big boy. I know what I signed up for.”

“Whatever happens in the offseason, listen, I hope Brady signs a five-year deal with [an NFL team]. I’ll be the first guy there. I’ll give ’em some cap room to make it work.”

Marc Silverman: “How do we keep you in the No. 1 booth? Do we have to send Twitter people after the Fox people to say, hey, leave Olsen in the No. 1 booth and have Brady go in the No. 4 booth? Do we have to go after Brady? 

Greg Olsen: “I don’t know if Brady is going to be in the No. 4 booth. We all know the reality. I know what I signed up for this year. My goal… and I said this before the season even started…. 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. Do the best job that I can. Listen, if Brady ends up retiring and coming, and decides, and that’s how everything unfolds, it sucks… But at the end of the day, I’m a big boy. I know what I signed up for. I took a chance on myself. I rolled the dice. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m looking forward to calling this game this weekend. Hopefully, people enjoy it as much as they have these last couple games. And that obviously culminates in a few weeks in the Super Bowl. So, I’m just going to enjoy these last couple weeks. They’ve been busy, but they’ve been a blast. And then whatever happens in the offseason, listen, I hope Brady signs a five-year deal with somebody. I’ll be the first guy there. I’ll give ’em some cap room to make it work. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.”

In November, Burkhardt said that Olsen told Brady during a Fox production meeting ahead of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, “‘Tom, I gotta tell ya, this TV thing sucks.’ It was great, we were dying laughing. It was fun, we had a good back and forth.”

[ESPN 1000; Photo Credit: Fox]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp