Greg Olsen has tried to cool any tension between himself and Fox NFL colleague Tom Brady before the beginning of the new season.
Olsen was replaced by Brady as the No 1 analyst for Fox Sports last year, with the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback beginning a 10-year deal worth $375million.
Up to then, former Carolina Panthers man Olsen was the main man and adored by Fox viewers. He still has a role with the team, but Brady is very much the top dog.
Earlier this year, Olsen admitted ‘resentment’ felt ‘not too far off’ in some brutal quotes about being replaced by Brady. But now, with the new season on the horizon, he has been keen to show that time is healer.
In an interview on ‘Bussin With The Boys’, he explained: ‘I have zero animosity toward Tom. I don’t sit there saying “I hope their broadcast stinks” at all.
‘That is independent from my personal aspirations of, I want to take this to the highest level I can. I want to call Super Bowls. I want to get to a top crew.
Greg Olsen has opened up about Tom Brady’s arrival as an NFL analyst at Fox Sports
Brady replaced the popular Olsen as top dog after agreeing a $375million deal
Olsen, earlier this year, said he felt close to resentment over Brady taking his place
‘I want to continue to elevate and see how high in the industry that I can get. Those things can both simultaneously exist.
‘My ascension individually does not have to come at the expense of him. It does not have to come in the animosity toward him. If he has a long career in this industry, so can I. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. That’s the way I look at it.’
Brady called the Super Bowl in New Orleans in February, where the Philadelphia Eagles turned Kansas City Chiefs’ three-peat hopes to dust with a 40-22 win.
Olsen, 40, insisted that he and Brady and friends who talk outside of football about their families.
‘Tom and I’s relationship, both professionally and personally, is really good,’ Olsen continued. ‘We’ve formed a better personal relationship since he joined Fox.
‘We’ve spent a lot of time on the phone, talking broadcasting but also talking about raising teenage daughters. We have a lot of other things in common.’
It marks a shift in approach for Olsen from earlier in the year. Speaking to The Athletic in January, he said: ‘I don’t think resentment’s probably accurate. But I also think it’s not too far off, if I’m being honest.
‘It’s hard to sit there and watch games that over the last couple of years you were preparing for and you were calling. And then you’re sitting there on your couch and you’re watching the game, you’re almost kind of broadcasting the game in your brain.
Brady and Olsen pictured together as rivals during their playing days in the NFL
‘You’re saying, “Oh, man, what would I have said on this play? There was so much to talk about there. That would’ve been super fun to dive into.” So you’re kinda driving yourself crazy with all these what-if scenarios as you’re watching the game.
‘It’s very hard now to watch the games and just sit back and watch.’
Brady’s first season was not without its hard points. He was criticized early on for how much color he was providing, as well as some other less excusable mistakes – such as saying Josh Allen used to run ‘like a spaz’.
But it was widely accepted that Brady got better as the season progressed. The first NFL game Fox will broadcast in the 2025 season will see Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals against the Cleveland Browns.
