ESPN has reportedly lined up former NFL star and broadcast favorite Greg Olsen to replace Troy Aikman on Monday Night Football.
It comes amid mounting tension between the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and the network following a breakdown in talks over a new contract.
Aikman’s existing five-year, $90 million deal is set to expire after he calls the Super Bowl in February. While longtime partner Joe Buck has recently agreed to fresh terms, Aikman is seemingly heading out the door.
That means one of the most coveted seats in NFL broadcasting will become available at the end of the season and, according to John Ourand of Puck, Olsen is the front runner.
‘My best sources are predicting that Greg Olsen will wind up in ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth next season,’ Ourand wrote in his latest The Varsity newsletter, per Pro Football Talk.
Olsen, who is also a free agent at the end of this season, quickly established himself as one of the best analysts in the NFL when he moved into TV following his retirement and joined Fox.
ESPN has reportedly already found its replacement for Troy Aikman on Monday Night Football
Fox analyst and ex-NFL tight end Greg Olsen is being lined up to partner Joe Buck, it’s claimed
However, he was demoted to the network’s No. 2 team before the start of the 2024 NFL season after Fox signed Tom Brady to a mammoth 10-year, $375 million contract.
Many thought the decision to demote Olsen was harsh, given he has won multiple Emmys and called the 2024 Super Bowl alongside Kevin Burkhardt before Brady took his place.
Olsen played 199 games across 14 seasons in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks.
Aikman seriously hinted he will leave ESPN at the end of the season on Thursday and addressed reports he had an argument in the broadcast booth with longtime partner Buck on Monday night.
According to Front Office Sports on Wednesday, Buck ‘broke the ice’ with Aikman on unspoken hostility before this week’s Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams.
It’s claimed the pair then had an argument that ultimately de-escalated before they called the game at SoFi Stadium without showing any noticeable signs of unrest.
Buck and Aikman joined ESPN in the 2022 offseason and signed big deals to leave Fox, with Aikman signing first then Buck following weeks later. But while Buck signed fresh terms with ESPN last month, talks over a new deal for Aikman have dried up.
Addressing the reports on Thursday morning, the three-time Super Bowl winner appeared to suggest his future lies away from ESPN and remained coy on the situation with Buck.
Olsen was demoted by Fox after the network signed Tom Brady to a $375 million, 10-year deal
Aikman, who is said to have had an argument with Joe Buck on Monday, seems to be leaving
‘There’s probably a time and a place for all that. I don’t know if now is the time. I don’t know if it’s hard to figure out kind of what happened,’ he told 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas-Fort Worth.
‘I’ll broadcast through this season and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot may be.’
It was confirmed last month that Buck will continue as the voice of Monday Night Football into the 2030s.
According to The Athletic, his annual salary has risen from $15 million to $18 million in the massive deal worth $108 million in total.
Buck, 57, and Aikman, 59, have been together in the booth since 2002. Aikman recently acknowledged he has not discussed what happens next with his bosses.
‘I thought something would be done prior to the start of this season,’ Aikman said on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast last month.
‘I’ve never gone into a last year of a contract ever since I signed with the Dallas Cowboys. So I thought that it would be done. It’s not.
‘When it might get done, if it gets done, is anybody’s guess, and it’s just not something that I’m really putting a lot of energy into.’
