Familiar with the changing of the guard from his quarterbacking days, Tom Brady will be on the other side of the baton handoff when he takes over Greg Olsen’s lead analyst job at Fox in 2024. Or so it’s been planned.
With Olsen’s future at the network still uncertain, the seven-time Super Bowl champ made sure to give the current Fox analyst his flowers for his last two years of savvy and polished announcing.
Brady called the Fox play-by-play man “incredible” over and over again on The Pat McAfee Show before discussing his “unique” vision for his new broadcasting role next season.
“Greg’s done an incredible job,” Brady said on Tuesday. “I have so much respect for him, how he approaches his job, 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.”
The former New England Patriots quarterback continued, “I’m just going to go in there and do the best I can do with my own perspective. I’ve certainly had a unique vision and perspective of the game over 23 years, and hopefully I can just provide some insight to all the viewers and fans who love the sport.”
"I've been out to the FOX studios a few times and I'm really excited to join an amazing team..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 30, 2024
Greg Olsen does an incredible job and I have so much respect for him..
I'm gonna go in there and do the best I can do with my own perspective" ~ @TomBrady #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Z1b6B2Zal5
To prepare for his responsibilities as Fox’s presumed lead game analyst in 2024, Brady also told McAfee he did some “dry runs” with Kevin Burkhardt, Olsen’s booth teammate.
Two years ago, Fox signed Brady to a 10-year, $375 million contract and unveiled its plan to make Brady-Burkhardt the network’s No. 1 broadcast team starting in the 2024 season. Olsen will seemingly be demoted to the No. 2 team.
Yet given Olsen’s outstanding commentary this past season (particularly in the NFC title game) and with Fox slated to broadcast next year’s Super Bowl, some have speculated that Fox could keep Olsen and integrate Brady into a three-man booth instead.
Scott Taetsch/USA TODAY Sports
If Fox does decide to demote Olsen, the 38-year-old announcer may look for work elsewhere, though there are no No. 1 national NFL analyst jobs available at the moment.
A Fox Sports spokesperson reportedly declined to comment on the network’s talent assignments for the 2024 season: “The network will reveal its complete production/talent plans in the future as it does before each season.”
And so the Brady-Burkhardt-Olsen saga drags on.
