Media insider opens up about Fox futures of Tom Brady, Greg Olsen

Media insider Richard Deitsch of The Athletic suggested in a piece published on Monday that retired quarterback Tom Brady will replace Greg Olsen as Fox's lead NFL analyst for a handful of seasons via the 10-year contract reportedly worth $375M that Brady signed after the 2021 campaign. 

"Olsen’s best move might be to stick around Fox for a couple of years on the No. 2 team (while asking for a massive raise to do so)," Deitsch explained while discussing the futures of the former tight end and Brady. "Given Brady’s significant interests away from broadcasting, it seems unlikely he will come close to completing his 10-year broadcasting/ambassador deal with Fox." 

Deitsch interestingly offered his update after Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported over the weekend that "it appears that it’s all systems go for" Brady to work alongside Fox lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt next season. McCarthy added that sources said Olsen would accept his salary dropping from $10M to $3M to serve as Fox's No. 2 game analyst later this year. 

Deitsch noted that ESPN's Troy Aikman, NBC's Cris Collinsworth, CBS' Tony Romo and Amazon's Kirk Herbstreit are currently set to retain their lead analyst gigs for next season. 

"If Olsen stays at Fox, it’s likely that within three to five years, he’d be back in the No. 1 NFL analyst seat," Deitsch added. Deitsch also mentioned that Olsen's representatives could ask Fox to feature the 38-year-old as a studio analyst for future NFC Championship and Super Bowl games as long as Brady is occupying the network's No. 1 chair. 

People doubting Brady's commitment to calling games for Fox is hardly new even though he has never publicly indicated since May 2022 that he will only give the network "three to five years" of service. However, it's possible Brady's desire to eventually become a limited partner of the Las Vegas Raiders could ultimately force him out of the Fox booth ahead of schedule.