Phil Simms didn’t embark on the same media tour as Greg Olsen, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have hard feelings when he was replaced — especially by one of the most famous quarterbacks of the next generation.
It’s easy to draw parallels between Simms being pushed aside for Tony Romo and Olsen now making way for Tom Brady at Fox. That’s your call to make — Simms certainly won’t. But the now-former NFL on CBS studio analyst understands where Olsen comes from.
Olsen isn’t rooting for Brady to fail — there’s no personal animosity toward the seven-time Super Bowl champion who just called Super Bowl LIX for Fox. But after two years of keeping Brady’s seat warm, Olsen has reopened a wound that never quite healed. He wants to call top games, and he knows that won’t happen at Fox. The network he once led as its No. 1 analyst is now a “non-factor” in his future, which is why he hasn’t been shy about making his feelings known to Fox Sports executives.
Simms, who called eight Super Bowls himself, isn’t chasing top-tier assignments like Olsen. But as he told Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes, if someone offered him the seventh game of a seven-game slate?
He’d take it, just for the fun of it.
“I would use it more as an avenue now than I did when I was doing it,” Simms said. “Much more to be broader scoped and probably complained a little more about a lot of things in the right way.”
Simms went on a bit of a tangent before returning to Olsen.
“Good for him; I don’t blame him at all,” added Simms. “I’m on his side. Would I have done that? I’d never have the courage to do that… I think he’s letting it out there that he wants to be the No. 1 somewhere. Problem is, there’s just not many of those spots out there to get. The people that get them want to hold them forever.”
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About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.