Fox has reportedly nailed down its replacement for Joe Buck, the longtime lead play-by-play announcer for the network’s NFL broadcasts, by promoting Kevin Burkhardt. It’s unclear who Burkhardt’s partner in the booth will be, but Fox apparently has already targeted some big names. Namely: Tom Brady.
Before Brady’s un-retirement and return to the Buccaneers, Fox eyed the seven-time Super Bowl champion as a potential replacement for Troy Aikman, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. Aikman also left Fox this offseason for ESPN along with Buck, where the pair will be the lead broadcasters for Monday Night Football.
It’s unclear how far along in the process Fox was with Brady before the 44-year-old announced his return to the field, or whether or not the two sides even discussed a potential pairing. It’s not too big of a leap, though, that Fox wouldn’t have been the only network in line for Brady’s broadcast services in the event that he was interested in making that career transition.
Another candidate for Aikman’s vacancy is reportedly Greg Olsen, who has been Burkhardt’s partner on Fox’s No. 2 team. Fox has not yet decided who will be Buck’s replacement for the World Series, though Joe Davis is reportedly the leading candidate.
Last week, Aikman appeared on The SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina to discuss his decision to leave for ESPN, and expressed puzzlement as to why Fox let him go.
“I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know that I ever will get the answer to that one, Jimmy,” Aikman said. “You know look, it’s a business … So there’s no hard feelings about anything. I had a great 21 years at Fox. I guess what’s perplexing to me is that I had no conversation with my boss until he called me to congratulate me on my contract with ESPN. So I don’t know, I guess it’s disappointing. I would’ve thought that there would’ve been a conversation at least. And then when I did talk with him, when he called to congratulate me, I just asked for an explanation on some things that I didn’t quite understand and he opted not to do that as well. So, I guess that’s where it’s left, that’s how I’ll leave Fox and that’s fine.”
