The most high-profile free-agency signing this NFL offseason? It was a package deal. Sort of. It shifted the balance of power among rivals, leaving one roster depleted and the other overhauled. It was as much about emotion—perceptions of respect and disrespect—as it was the staggering financial terms. It involved familiar, long-embedded stars, one age 55, the other 53.
Before—and while—the Rams defeated the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, the ground was shaking in NFL broadcast circles. It was an open secret that NBC was gently nudging Al Michaels out of the Sunday Night Football booth to make room for Mike Tirico, who’d been patiently waiting in the wings for years. Michaels would “transition” to Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package, paired with Kirk Herbstreit.
Photo Illustration by Dan Larkin; Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images (Aikman); Lynne Sladky/AP/Shutterstock (Buck); Ross Lewis/Getty Images (Background)
