With seven Super Bowl rings, Tom Brady ranks among the greatest NFL quarterbacks to ever play the four-down game.
Not so in the broadcast booth. Since leaving the field and inking a mind-blowing 10-year $375 million contract with FOX in 2022 to become its No. 1 in-game analyst, Brady has been far from Tom Terrific. In fact, he’s been more like Tom the Bomb.
Former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who was demoted to the No. 2 chair by FOX upon the much-ballyhooed arrival of Brady, recently won his third Sports Emmy Award and second for Most Outstanding Personality/Event Analyst. A first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 2007, Olsen enjoyed a solid 14-year NFL career as a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro before retiring to the broadcast booth in 2021.
Olsen made a smooth transition to broadcasting and his polished performances have ranked him among the very best colour commentators currently covering NFL games. Brady? He had a bumpy ride in his first season in the booth and has been only marginally better since.
Shortly after Olsen copped his third career Emmy, this is what NFL writer Drew Lerner had to say: “It might be contractually mandated that Tom Brady sit in the No. 1 chair on Fox Sports’ NFL coverage, but the National Academy of Television Arts and Science believes the superior analyst is in the second booth.”
It’s no contest. Olsen is the man.
Because of that, some in the NFL media suggest the controversial bumping of Olsen to No. 2 to make room for Brady as the unproven No. 1 has put FOX in an awkward spot with Olsen regularly collecting award show hardware while Brady seemingly struggles to improve. That said, Olsen, a consummate pro, has handled the situation with aplomb.
“There’s this idea that there’s this personal animosity and competition,” said Olsen during an appearance last year on the Pardon My Take podcast. “There’s not.”
He said his relationship with Brady “couldn’t be better.”
Will Brady ever become a real No. 1 in the broadcast booth? Who knows.
If and when that ever happens, Olsen remains an absolute steal for FOX. Compared to Brady’s humongous contract, the award-winning Olsen is a bargain at a reported $3 million per year.
Meanwhile, here are my favourite all-time football broadcasters:
It says here that no NFL TV broadcast duo ever did it better than Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier. Both former NFL players of great distinction, Summerall (play-by-play) and Brookshier (colour commentary) were often called the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid of the broadcast booth for how genuinely comfortable they appeared together and their laid-back delivery. It was like listening to your dad and a favourite uncle calling the game in the family rec room over beers and cigars with plenty of anecdotes and lots of laughs.
As for the CFL on CBC, to me, Don Wittman was the unrivaled voice of Canadian professional football. Wittman called 36 Grey Cup championship games and was often joined in the booth by Ron Lancaster, who after a legendary career as one of the greatest CFL quarterbacks of all-time, was equally outstanding in providing colour commentary. They made a terrific team.
When it came to U.S. college football, nobody beat the down-home TV play-by-play provided by Keith Jackson — “Whoa Nellie!” — who on occasion would refer to a large lineman as: ‘A big old horse.’ Jackson’s booming delivery was once described as ‘operatic.’
And I really miss the strong coverage Ontario university football once got years ago when CHCH-TV in Hamilton would regularly broadcast an OUA Game of the Week. Belleville native Ken Welch was the sideline reporter and his witty repartee made him a popular media personality in the Steel City region.
