Tom Brady is set to join the top Fox NFL broadcast booth next season, replacing the popular Greg Olsen in one of the more seismic changes in sports broadcasting ever.
Brady joined The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday to discuss his move to Fox. In the interview, he opened up about his practice runs in Los Angeles with Kevin Burkhardt and his appreciation for Olsen’s work the past two years.
“Greg’s done an incredible job. I have so much respect for him, how he approaches his job,” Brady said. “He’s super prepared in what he does. I think he does an incredible job every time he’s on, I love listening to him. I’m just going to go in there and do the best I can do with my own perspective.”
Tom Brady gives praise to the outgoing Greg Olsen and reveals he's been getting some NFL broadcast practice in with Kevin Burkhardt recently pic.twitter.com/aWtXn6kb4h
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 30, 2024
While many worried whether Brady would actually follow through on the $375 million deal he signed with Fox after retiring from the NFL last year, Brady confirmed multiple times he will call games in 2024. Brady even detailed the lengths he has gone to to prepare for the booth next to Burkhardt.
“I’ve been out to the Fox studios a few times and done some really dry runs with Kevin, who’s tremendous at what he does,” Brady explained. “I’m super excited to join an amazing team.”
Olsen recently indicated he was open to any role at Fox with Brady replacing him. Brady doing “dry runs” with Burkhardt would seem to rule out a three-man booth with Olsen.
But even if Olsen’s demotion at Fox is permanent, he will be a top candidate for every NFL broadcast gig. As Cris Collinsworth nears the end of his deal with NBC and questions linger about Tony Romo at CBS, Olsen can afford to be patient.
In the meantime, it appears there are no hard feelings between Brady and Olsen. And Brady is ready to hit the ground running at Fox.
[The Pat McAfee Show on YouTube]
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.