Greg Olsen has now won Sports Emmy awards in back-to-back seasons after taking home the hardware for Outstanding Personality – Event Analyst on Tuesday for his widely praised work as Fox Sports’ top NFL color commentator.
The longtime NFL player has quickly found his footing in the broadcast booth but looks poised for a demotion to Fox’s No. 2 team this upcoming season, with Tom Brady expected to take over as color commentator on the network’s top team.
Is the network making the right choice in demoting the award-winning analyst?
Is Fox Making a Mistake With Greg Olsen’s Demotion?
Olsen won this year’s award over the likes of industry staples Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth, Bill Raftery, John Smoltz, and Tom Verducci. He previously won the award for Outstanding Personality – Emerging On-Air Talent last year before taking home the accolade for Event Analyst this time around.
Olsen was on the call with Kevin Burkhardt for Super Bowl 57 two years back before Jim Nantz and Tony Romo got the most recent game.
During his speech at Tuesday’s ceremony, Olsen expressed gratitude for winning another award this year and thanked the many people who help make Fox’s broadcasts happen. He also made some comments that could hint at his future leading elsewhere, with Brady expected to take over Fox’s lead role.
“I don’t know what the future holds. All I know is, I love talking football. I love talking ball, I love studying it, I love seeing where the game is going. Wherever that takes me, whatever level it is, I’m more committed to the game of football now.
“I appreciate you guys, two years in a row. This is super cool, and I look forward to things ahead.”
The #SportsEmmys Award for Outstanding Personality/Event Analyst goes to Greg Olsen @gregolsen88 (@foxsports). pic.twitter.com/HjqbWQLOWd
— Sports Emmys (@sportsemmys)
Brothers Travis and Jason Kelce also discussed both Brady and Olsen’s commentary skills during last week’s episode of their weekly New Heights podcast.
The pair both had praise for Brady and the insights he will provide given his wealth of experience as perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Travis and Jason each heaped praise on Olsen as well, for his own success in the booth before seemingly getting the short end of the stick with Brady coming on at Fox.
“I love my guy Greg Olsen,” Travis said. “They kind of did him dirty over there at Fox, but it’s Tom Brady. What can you do, right?
“Sometimes you just gotta do your thing. Greg does a f—— tremendous job. He called our Super Bowl game and he was f—— fantastic doing that.
“I try not to be biased against the commentators and the color guys, but I think Greg is phenomenal at it,” Jason added. “You can tell he makes it a point to really know what he’s talking about. He’s got a beautiful blend of just knowledge and experience to unleash when he calls games. It’s a joy to watch Greg call games or listen to him.”
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Although Olsen’s future is up in the air, and there’s still some uncertainty as to how Brady will ultimately fare in the booth, the Kelces seem to agree that Fox has a pair of the industry’s best minds on its broadcast teams.
“Fox, you got two great ones, man,” Travis said.