Despite the awkwardness around Fox Sports hiring Tom Brady to supplant Greg Olsen on its top NFL broadcast team, the two retired stars have hit it off as colleagues ahead of Brady’s first season at the network this fall.
After preseason meetings for Fox talent in Los Angeles this month, Olsen joined the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast to discuss his working relationship with Brady so far and the process of connecting with the seven-time champion on a personal level rather than as a competitor on the gridiron.
“He’s been nothing but respectful and nothing but professional through all of this, which has been amazing, and I’ve tried to be that in return to him,” Olsen explained. “I have no animosity or ill will towards Tom. I think everyone is excited to see what’s it going to be like, what’s his perspective going to be, what’s his style going to be.”
Fox formally signed Brady in the spring of 2022 to a record 10-year, $375 million contract after his second retirement from the NFL.
After nearly two years of waiting, Olsen and the rest of the crew at Fox are finally getting to work alongside their marquee free agent signing.
“You know what you signed up for,” Olsen said of being replaced by Brady in an interview released Thursday. “I’ve gotten to know Tom now over the last couple months, spent a lot of time with him last week in L.A. at the seminar. He’s been awesome. It’s been great to just get to know him personally. I didn’t know him that intimately when we were playing … but just getting to know him, getting to know about his family, hearing him talk about his kids, it’s cool to see the human side of him and just kick back and hang.”
Olsen said he spoke with Brady by phone a couple times before they were able to spend quality time together this summer.
The 13-year veteran tight end said he never connected with Brady much when they were both in the NFL, but he has tried to be “as much of a resource as possible” to Brady as he makes his transition to broadcasting.
“We’ve spoken a lot now,” Olsen added. “Also talking the industry, and some of the things that when I first came out that I had to learn the hard way, and things that I look at very differently now going into year four than I did going into year one. And there is an element of you don’t know what you don’t know, and I think he’s doing a really nice job picking people’s brains and getting people’s opinions, and obviously he’s got the best partner you could ask for, especially for somebody learning the industry, in Kevin (Burkhardt).”
Olsen’s biggest piece of advice for Brady, he said, is to lean on his partner Burkhardt as much as possible.
While Olsen has made no secret of his goal of returning to a top NFL booth somewhere in the industry sooner than later, he is saying all the right things to handle his demotion professionally. At the same time, Olsen clearly sees an opportunity to get to know Brady and learn from him as well.
Olsen will be Fox’s No. 2 game analyst behind Brady this season before likely going on the hunt for a new gig next offseason once again.
[ SI Media with Jimmy Traina ]
The post Greg Olsen: Tom Brady ‘awesome’ and ‘professional’ as Fox colleague appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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