Unlike many significant sports broadcasting hires, when Fox Sports brought in Tom Brady last season, he was replacing an Emmy-award-winning game analyst. That analyst, Greg Olsen, did not shy away from sharing how much his demotion bothered him and the hard feelings he harbored toward Fox management.
Still, Olsen and Brady have mostly handled the situation with grace. And in a new podcast conversation heading into their second season as colleagues, the two NFL on Fox analysts tried to flush any awkwardness down the toilet and lifted their relationship as an example of how to be a great teammate.
“There’s a part with our jobs where people want to write about it. I don’t give a sh*t about any of that,” Brady told Olsen on Olsen’s Youth Inc. podcast. “I just care about my relationship with you, because I know if I’m cool with you, that’s all that matters.”
Considering their conversation was part of a broader episode about youth sports, Olsen and Brady cleverly framed the hyper-competitive NFL broadcasting field as if they were kids playing sports. They showcased their personal bond in the face of a would-be rivalry from within Fox’s halls.
“I’ve been very comfortable sharing it with you and sharing it with everyone else, I kind of think it’s cool for you and I in this moment to show we can both want to be great, and it doesn’t mean I want either of us to be bad,” Olsen said.
Brady, who has spoken far less about this dynamic publicly, opened up on how much he learned from Olsen. After recently admitting he may have regressed throughout his first season calling NFL games, Brady acknowledged watching Olsen’s broadcasts to learn and improve.
“When I look in broadcasting, I was very much a rookie this last year. But I looked up to a lot of people who I thought, ‘Man, he does a great job.’ And you’re obviously one of the greats already at such a young age,” Brady told Olsen. “I watched so much Greg Olsen broadcasting tape, and I just said, what does he do that I really like that maybe I can apply in my prep … or my on-air?”
The GOAT quarterback also likened his friendly competition with Olsen to his early-career battles to rise up the depth chart. Brady did not start until his junior season at Michigan, then made the most of a spot start filling in for Drew Bledsoe in his sophomore NFL campaign.
Through those experiences, Brady says he learned how to push for greatness without it coming at the expense of the people around him. Heading into another year in which his performance relative to Olsen’s will likely be a storyline in NFL media, Brady is trying to bring that same energy.
“This time will come and go and the articles will come and go, and the only people that need to be cool are me and you,” Brady told Olsen. “Because that’s all that matters to me in my life.”
As for Olsen, it appears he is changing his tune from the immediate aftermath of his first season back in Fox’s No. 2 booth, in which he boldly challenged Fox management and talked himself up as the superior analyst.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.