Realistically, Greg Olsen knows he’s a seat keeper for Tom Brady at Fox. But that’s not the mindset he’s bringing into the NFL season.
Olsen and Kevin Burkhardt have been tasked with filling the lead NFL booth for Fox after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left for ESPN. But whenever Tom Brady decides to retire from playing, he’ll immediately partner with Burkhardt on the lead team. There are 375 million reasons why there’s not much Olsen can do to change that.
“If Brady does retire and he steps into it, I want it to be like, ‘I know Brady’s coming, but damn, I don’t want to replace this guy.’ That’s my mindset, and I can’t control anything else,” Olsen said on The Adam Schefter Podcast. “I’m gonna try to give people a fun broadcast, a unique broadcast…If I get replaced by Tom Brady, I get it. but along the way, I’m gonna try to make it as hard as hell on everybody involved.”
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“I have all the respect in the world for Tom. I get it, if you have a chance to get Tom Brady, you’d be silly not to,” Olsen admitted to Schefter. “I have no hard feelings or animosity towards Tom. If he retires after this year and comes into the booth, that’s the way it goes.”
Olsen might not feel this way, but there’s less pressure on him because Brady is looming. Everyone knows Olsen is a temporary solution, so if he isn’t great, the criticism will be minimal. But the better he is, the harder it is on Brady, who will enter the booth with enormous expectations after landing an unprecedented 10-year $375 million contract from Fox. And despite Brady’s contract, he’s an unknown commodity in the booth, whereas with Olsen, we know he’s a more than serviceable broadcaster with proven chemistry alongside Burkhardt.
“I’m gonna go out and do the best job I can do and I hope Tom plays another five years,” Olsen said with a laugh. “I don’t think Tom’s career is over until he gets 10 Super Bowls. I think anything less than that would be selling himself short. So if I was him, I’d go for 10, and I’ll hold the seat warm until he gets there.”
Not only will Olsen get at least one year as the lead analyst for Fox, he’ll do so in a season where they have the Super Bowl. Olsen is an awkward spot with Fox, knowing Brady isn’t far from taking his job. But he’s getting the ultimate opportunity to showcase his talent and prove he’s worth the tens of millions of dollars that some of his peers are getting paid.
