Greg Olsen gets his shot as Super analyst, but Tom Brady looms
Tom Brady played in 10 Super Bowls.
He can wait a couple of more years before working at another one.
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, said this week he won’t begin his broadcasting career with Fox until 2024. That means the analyst for Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and Eagles will be former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who will work alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt.
Olsen, who played in Super Bowl 50 for the Carolina Panthers, has maintained a role this season opposite Burkhardt with Fox’s lead broadcast team.
That’s subject to change when Brady joins the broadcast booth.
“I don’t know what the future (holds), but to know that I’ll at least have a chance to get this again next year,” Olsen told reporters Tuesday during the network’s media day. “It’s nice knowing that Sunday won’t be my last time with this crew. How many more years, we don’t know yet. But at least Sunday won’t be the last one. That’s nice.”
Joining Burkhardt and Olsen on the broadcast are sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi. Mike Pereira, formerly the NFL’s president of officiating, will provide analysis and expertise throughout the game.
The crew comprised Fox’s top team amid the departure to ESPN of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who had manned the call for the previous six Super Bowls for which the network held the broadcast rights.
Burkhardt, Olsen and Rinaldi are making their Super Bowl debuts. Andrews is covering her fourth and Pereira his fifth.
Olsen, 37, is embracing the opportunity despite Brady’s looming presence.
“I knew what I had signed up for. I knew when I sat in the seat that that shadow was always going to kind of be there,” said Olsen, a three-time Pro Bowl player with the Panthers. “My approach this year was very similar to my approach as a player. You can’t control that. You can’t control the next draft pick they bring in to take your spot.”
Burkhardt, 48, becomes the third play-by-play announcer to call the Super Bowl for Fox — joining Buck and the late, great Pat Summerall, who called three Super Bowls for Fox and eight for CBS.
Burkhardt has called NFL games for Fox since 2013 and also contributes to their MLB coverage.
“I don’t know any other way than to be myself, and Greg is the same way. Some of this I’ll never get used to,” Burkhardt told the North Jersey Record. “You are the spotlight, which is fine. It’s different, it’s not necessarily who I am. … I’m cherishing the moment, Greg feels the same, and everything that’s about to come our way. We’re ready.”
Added Olsen: “You can’t control the next rookie, or in this case the greatest football player of all time. My hope was to just go out there and show that I belong. … That’s been my objective the whole year. It could last one year, two years, 10 years.”
Fox’s pregame coverage begins at 10 a.m. Sunday on KVVU-5. Curt Menefee will be the host, joined by Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Rob Gronkowski and Jay Glazer.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.