A season after being replaced by Tom Brady on Fox Sports's No. 1 NFL broadcast team with Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen doesn’t seem to be holding any grudges.
Olsen, who was booted off the team and dropped to the network’s No. 2 booth ahead of the 2024 season, took a reported $7 million salary cut and has since settled in next to new partners Joe Davis and Jason Benetti. He’s also remained somewhat active on social media, occasionally sharing his unique insights during games worked by Brady and Burkhardt.
The wheels had long been in motion for Brady’s highly anticipated jump to broadcasting, and Olsen happened to be an unfortunate casualty of the situation after a stellar but short stint with Burkhardt on the No. 1 team.
Olsen recently opened up about being replaced by Brady and said that while he wasn’t harboring “resentment” toward the FOX rookie, it was still tough for him to watch NFL games this past season.
“It’s hard to sit there and watch games that over the last couple of years you were preparing for and you were calling.” Olsen told The Athletic. “And then you’re sitting there on your couch and you’re watching the game, you’re almost kind of broadcasting the game in your brain. You’re saying, ‘Oh, man, what would I have said on this play? There was so much to talk about there. That would’ve been super fun to dive into.’”
“So you’re kinda driving yourself crazy with all these what-if scenarios as you’re watching the game. It’s very hard now to watch the games and just sit back and watch.”
The network will broadcast Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9. Olsen added that he hoped to grab dinner and catch up with Brady and Burkhardt in New Orleans next week, though one would naturally wonder how much he’s wishing he was calling the big game himself.
“Will I be disappointed? Would I rather sit next to Kevin for the next 20 years? Of course,” Olsen said in January 2023. “I’m not going to sit here and sound stupid and be like, ‘You know, just doing this for one year was plenty.’ Like, no, screw that. I’d like to do this for 20 years. I’d like to call 10 Super Bowls. Whether that happens or not, I don’t know. I don’t control it.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Greg Olsen Shared the ‘Hard’ Part of Watching Tom Brady Call Games for FOX.
