Who is Greg Olsen? Meet the Fox broadcaster calling Super Bowl 57

Dan Treacy

Who is Greg Olsen? Meet the Fox broadcaster calling Super Bowl 57 image

Fox has the rights to the Super Bowl for the first time in three years, and there will be some new faces in the broadcast booth this time around.

With Joe Buck and Troy Aikman now over at ESPN, Kevin Burkhardt will handle play-by-play duties while Greg Olsen will serve as the color analyst for the big game.

Olsen is already a familiar name for NFL fans. A former Pro Bowl tight end, he joined Fox as a broadcaster after his retirement in 2021 and has quickly risen to the network's No. 1 broadcast team.

Olsen's exact role going forward is up in the air due to Tom Brady potentially joining Fox, but he will have an opportunity on Sunday night in Arizona to do what few have done and call a Super Bowl. 

Here's everything you need to know about Olsen as he calls Super Bowl 57. 

MORE: Watch Super Bowl 57 live with fuboTV (free trial)

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Who did Greg Olsen play for?

Olsen spent the first four seasons of his career with the Bears, but he made his name during a nine-year stint with the Panthers following a 2011 trade.

Olsen posted a new career-high with 843 yards in his second season in Carolina, and he emerged as Cam Newton's top target from 2014-2016 with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Olsen was selected to the Pro Bowl in all three of those seasons, earning two selections to the All-Pro Second Team. He had a career-best 1,104 yards in 2015, when a Panthers team lacking a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver went 15-1 and won the NFC. 

Olsen battled injuries late in his tenure in Carolina and was released after the 2019 season. He finished up his career in Seattle with 24 catches for 239 yards and a touchdown in 2020 before announcing his retirement in January 2021.

Only six tight ends have more career receiving yards than Olsen, who finished with 8,683. One of them, Travis Kelce, will be on the field when Olsen calls Super Bowl 57. 

MORE: Greg Olsen reveals reaction to Fox hiring Tom Brady: 'If you’re going to lose, at least lose to him'

Greg Olsen Super Bowl stats

Olsen was a massive part of the Panthers' offense during their 15-1 season that brought them to Super Bowl 50, but he was held in check by a historically good Broncos offense with a championship on the line.

Olsen finished with 41 yards in Super Bowl 50, hauling in only four receptions despite being targeted nine times by Newton. The Panthers would finish with just 10 points in the defeat. Still, it's a nice bonus to have a player with some Super Bowl experience in the booth for the biggest game of the year.

Newton looked to Olsen early and often during that playoff run, as the tight end racked up 190 total yards and a touchdown between the divisional round and NFC championship game before the disappointing Super Bowl effort. 

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Greg Olsen Fox contract

Olsen is believed to be making somewhere near $10 million this season as part of Fox's top broadcast team. However, his future is up in the air.

Fox agreed to a 10-year, $375 million deal with Tom Brady to take over Olsen's role as the network's top analyst last offseason. Now that Brady has retired, Olsen could be bumped down to the No. 2 team and be forced to take a significant pay cut. 

MORE: Will Tom Brady be on Fox's Super Bowl broadcast in 2023? QB's retirement opens door for TV debut

According to the New York Post, Olsen's Fox contract "allows him to leave if there is a No. 1 job around," so it's possible he has impressed other networks enough to land a top role elsewhere either now or in the future. It's also possible Brady decides he's not as interested in broadcasting as he thought he would be, though that kind of money would be difficult to walk away from. 

As of now, Olsen's roughly $10 million annual salary is equal to Kirk Herbstreit's Amazon Prime salary and trails Tony Romo ($18 million), Troy Aikman ($18 million), and Cris Collinsworth ($12 million). 

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy Photo

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.