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‘I’m not going to roll over and die’: Greg Olsen comes out fighting his impending broadcast booth battle with newly retired Tom Brady on FOX Sports
Greg Olsen won’t leave the broadcast booth without a fight, as he expects to fight recently retired Tom Brady over his role as lead analyst at Fox Sports starting in 2024.
The former tight end has officially been with the television network since retiring at the end of the 2021 season, following his release from the Seattle Seahawks. The 37-year-old started his new profession alongside Kevin Burkhardt.
After Olsen’s first full-time year in the booth, Fox promoted him, as well as Burkhardt, as the network’s number one commentary duo prior to the start of last season, replacing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who left Fox. to join ESPN and call Monday Night Football.
The pair were also the broadcast team for Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVII. Since then, Olsen has remained optimistic and defiant about his future with the network, regardless of Brady’s anticipated arrival a year from now.
“Tom Brady, I’m sure you all read those new articles last week, you couldn’t get away,” the three-time Pro-Bowler said Wednesday, according to Queen City News.
Greg Olsen (L) won’t stand aside for Tom Brady (R) when he joins Fox Sports next year
“But my answer was always: ‘I have all the respect in the world for Tom Brady.’ Who doesn’t, right? He is the greatest, I get it. I understand why they chased him, but I’m not going to roll over and die.
I’m willing to do what these guys aren’t willing to do. Until they kick me out, I’ll sit there and do it. Maybe he’ll come and take my job some day. I can live with that. I understand.’
‘I understand the rules that we all sign. I’m not asking for anyone’s sympathy. It’s been amazing,” Olsen added from a charity event that supports local children’s hospitals in the surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina area.
The fundraiser was held in honor of February’s Heart Month.
Olsen is widely expected to make room for Brady so that the seven-time Super Bowl champion can be paired with Burkhardt at his expense.
If demoted to Fox’s No. 2 team, then the two-time second-team All-Pro would have to take a $7 million pay cut, from $10 million to $3 million annually, according to the new york post office.
Brady, who retired on February 1, signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox Sports in May of last year and revealed his plans to join the network next year.
In January, Olsen publicly acknowledged that her job could be at stake, admitting that it would “suck” if Brady’s arrival led to the breakup of her partnership with Burkhardt.
Olsen has been with Fox Sports since he hung up his shoes in 2021 and called Super Bowl LVII
“We all know reality,” Olsen said on the ‘Waddle and Silvy’ radio show on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. ‘I know what I signed up for this year.
“My goal, and I said this before the season 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 you can.
‘Listen, if Brady ends up retiring and coming back, and he decides, and that’s how it all plays out, it sucks. But at the end of the day, I’m a big boy. I know why I signed up. I took a chance. I rolled the dice. Let’s see how it develops.