Tom Brady’s eventual move into the Fox NFL booth is far from Kevin Burkhardt’s mind as the biggest games of the broadcaster’s career approach.
Burkhardt and his partner Greg Olsen discussed their first season in the Fox booth and the Elephant in the Room that is Brady, who signed a $375 million deal to replace Olsen once he retires, on Richard Deitsch’s sports media podcast this week.
Brady is expected to take over as Fox’s lead analyst if he decides to retire this offseason. Olsen and Burkhardt have been Fox’s top NFL broadcast team since Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” before this season. The pair has been praised for its work this season and will call the NFC Championship game between the Eagles and 49ers on Sunday, as well as Super Bowl 2023 for Fox.
Deitsch asked Burkhardt what it’s like to be working with Olsen, who is acting as sort of a placeholder for Brady. “Greg’s my dude,” Burkhardt said on the podcast. “I’ve known him for a long time. We get along really, really well. I love the guy.
“But in a business sense, when this all happened, obviously, I texted with Tom and that was it. That was the last time I texted with him because quite honestly I’ve got enough to do right now. I can’t be thinking about Tom Brady when the next two games are the most important of my personal career.
“After the Tom stuff broke, Greg and I had a talk,” Burkhardt continued. “I said, ‘Hey, here’s one thing I know we can control: We can go out this year and kick ass and have a great time. We’re doing the Super Bowl this year, and let’s just see where it goes.’”
Olsen has admitted that it would “suck” if Brady decided to take over his spot next to Burkhardt next season.
“We all know the reality,” Olsen said on “The Waddle and Silvy” radio show on ESPN 1000 this week. “I know what I signed up for this year. My goal — and I said this before the season even started — my goal was to try to 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. Do the best job that I can.
“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. I took a chance on myself. I rolled the dice. Let’s see how it plays out.”
