When it comes to NFL coverage for the 2022 season, there will be a lot of changes. For Fox Sports, there will be a new No. 1 broadcast team for NFL games as Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left the network to join ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Does this mean former NFL tight end Greg Olsen takes over Aikman’s spot? In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Olsen talked about what his role at Fox Sports will be for the 2022 season.
“I mean, this is the million-dollar question I keep getting asked and, to be honest, I don’t have a lot of clarity at this point,” Olsen exclusively told PopCulture. “I think everyone’s still kind of working through a lot of those musical chairs you mentioned with Joe and Troy leaving, how they fill their roles, both with football and then, of course with Joe’s role calling the World Series with baseball. So we’ll see hopefully here in the near future a lot of these questions and things get cleared up and we’ll kind of see how it all sorts out.”
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2021 was Olsen’s first season as a full-time broadcaster. Before that, the former Carolina Panthers star would call games for Fox while playing for the team in 2017 and 2019. In 2020, Olsen called five XFL games with Kevin Burkhardt during the offseason. The duo would be the No. 2 broadcast team for Fox Sports last year behind Aikman and Buck, and it’s been reported that Burkhardt will be replacing Buck this fall.
“I really enjoyed it. I worked with a great team,” Olsen said when asked about his experience of being a full-time commentator. “Kevin Burkhardt, Pam Oliver, they’re professionals. They’ve done this for a long time at a high level. So I got paired with a great team. I’ve always enjoyed talking football. I’ve always enjoyed the game, talking it, explaining it, diving into it, and learning. There were a lot of things that I learned from production meetings and talking to coaches and studying other offenses as opposed to just defenses for all those years.”
Olsen continued: “So it was a really good experience. It kept me stimulated. It kept me very challenged and engaged in learning a new craft and learning a new skill. I think no matter what stage of life you’re in, it’s nice to challenge yourself with something new and that’s what this was. So it was a great experience. I really enjoyed it. There was times that were big learning curves. There was times where it was challenging and hard and new, and I think that was part of what made it so fun.”
