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Greg Olsen had a solid career as an NFL tight end. However, his run as an analyst in the No .1 booth with Kevin Burkhart for the FOX NFL broadcasts is off to a phenomenal start. Olsen has drawn rave reviews for his spot-on analysis and his accessible, comprehensive way of explaining things on the field. This kind of sports media debut would usually set an analyst up for a 20- to 30-year run in the booth, ala Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth, or Tony Romo. For Olsen, though, the track to John Madden land isn’t that cut and dry. That’s because Tom Brady and his $375 million FOX contract could be coming to take Olsen’s job, and as the up-and-coming color man says, that “sucks.”

Greg Olsen reveals he’s not thrilled about possibly losing his spot to Tom Brady

Greg Olsen, Tom Brady, FOX
(L-R) Tom Brady, Greg Olsen | Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for IWC Schaffhausen; Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

When Tom Brady retired (briefly) last offseason, FOX gave the Greatest Quarterback of All Time a 10-year, $375 million contract to join the network’s NFL team. Brady ultimately went back to play another season (or 10), but the contract remained in place for whenever the seven-time Super Bowl champ decides to walk away.

While the contract doesn’t specify what Brady’s role at FOX will be, much of the speculation is that he will be in the No. 1 booth as the analyst, as those are positions that usually come with that type of paycheck.

Greg Olsen heard the speculation and knew the possibility that he was a one-and-done analyst when he took the job this offseason after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman defected to ESPN. He took it anyway and knocked it out of the park this season.

Now Olsen admits he’s not in the greatest situation but also feels good about his run — if it is over — because he gave it all he had.

“We all know the reality. I know what I signed up for this year. My goal was to try and do the best job that I could. Give people a fun listen. Give people maybe a little bit of a different perspective and insight into the game,” Olsen told Waddle & Silvy on ESPN Radio 1000 Chicago. “And, listen, if Brady ends up retiring and coming and decides — and that’s how everything unfolds, it sucks, but at the end of the day, I’m a big boy. I know what I signed up for, and I took a chance on myself, rolled the dice.”

For now, Olsen is concentrating on calling the San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship Game on Sunday and then Super Bowl 57 after that. He also said he hopes Brady someday joins the team (albeit not for his job) and that he would even “give him some cap room” to make the deal happen.

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Staff Writer, Producer - NFL

Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.