Tom Brady has a champion in Greg Olsen.
In a new interview with The Athletic, Olsen – who is currently in his first season with Fox Sports’ No. 2 team after Brady moved into the former tight end position on the network’s top team – explained that his “success does not depend on the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who made his highly anticipated debut as an NFL analyst last Sunday.
“I want him to do well. I want him to succeed. I want him to feel like I’m a good teammate. It’s no different than if he walked into the locker room when I was a player and we happened to play the same position,” Olsen, 39, said of Brady, 47.
“My success is not dependent on Tom. Tom being really good doesn’t make me any less good, and Tom being bad doesn’t make me any better. Fox has two top teams, and that’s how I see it. But I talked to (on-air partner) Joe (Davis) about this: I want people to think Joe and I are the best crew on television. It doesn’t matter that we’re the B crew.”
Olsen has worked with top live commentator Kevin Burkhardt for the past two seasons and even won a Sports Emmy for his efforts in May.
Brady signed a massive 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox ahead of the 2022 NFL season, his last.
He took a break in 2023, the same year he announced his retirement from the NFL, and made his big debut last week in the Cowboys’ dominant 33-17 win over the Browns.
Although Brady’s analysis drew mixed reactions, Joe Buck – who co-occupied Fox’s top booth with Troy Aikman before moving to ESPN in 2022 – stressed that he must be patient.
“It’s a tough job and we all do our part,” Buck said on Monday on “The Michael Kay Show.” “We all have to settle in; we have to know what we need to know. I spoke to him on Friday and I don’t think anyone has put more work into preparing for their first show than Tom. And now you have to get on with it and settle in. It’s extremely unfair that everyone wants to give their opinion after five seconds. That’s not how it works.”
RedZone host Scott Hanson even walked back his comments about Brady after saying the future Hall of Famer needs to “show more excitement in the locker room than that.”
“That was unfair and reckless of me. Yes, I didn’t mean it entirely seriously – but I didn’t consider how it might come across,” the NFL Network star wrote on X last week. “@TomBrady, I apologize. I promise to cheer you on in this new endeavor!”
Olsen, who told The Athletic he and Brady have had more “personal” conversations “over the last six or seven months,” added he was happy to be a support during a radical career turnaround.
“I told him, ‘Dude, I’m here to help in any way I can. I haven’t been doing this for 20 years, but I understand the transition you’re going through better than anyone in the business because it’s the same transition I went through.’ You go straight from playing to commentating on the Super Bowl and the big games of the week. I think I have a perspective he can rely on,” Olsen said.
Brady and Burkhardt will be available for the Cowboys’ duel against the Saints in Week 2.
