Greg Olsen to be in the Fox broadcast booth for Minnesota Vikings’ Week 11 game
By Adam Patrick
The current Carolina Panthers tight end will be part of the broadcast team for the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 11 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams.
Week 2 was a bittersweet time for current Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen. His team was able to get a 9-3 win over the Buffalo Bills, but Olsen left the game with an injury that was later revealed to be a broken right foot.
The Panthers tight end has been on injured reserve since September 19 and is expected to return to the field for the team’s Week 12 matchup with the New York Jets. But a week before Olsen gets back to playing football again, the tight end will be heading to Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
During Carolina’s bye in Week 11, Olsen will be joining the Fox broadcast booth and calling the Minnesota Vikings’ showdown with the Los Angles Rams on November 19. Olsen will serve as a game analyst for the contest and be a part of a broadcast team that includes Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis, and Pam Oliver.
Considering the tight end is still an active member of the Panthers, these types of happenings to do not occur very often. In fact, Matt Hasselbeck and Marcus Allen are the only others to be part of a Fox broadcast team for a game during a season in which they were still an active NFL player.
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Hasselbeck stepped into the booth in 2014 while still a member of the Indianapolis Colts and Allen was still on the Kansas City Chiefs’ roster when he joined the Fox broadcast team for a game back in 1994.
It will be interesting to see how Olsen goes about his role during this unique opportunity and what kind of insight he can provide to the telecast. At the very least, the tight end will get an up-close and personal view of a Vikings team that he and Carolina will be facing in Week 14.
Some may look at it as an unfair advantage that Olsen will get an in-person look at one of his future opponents. However, his preparation for this one-week broadcasting position likely will not be that much different from how he normally prepares for a game.
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Just think of it as the tight end spending a little more time in the film room, but with more focus on learning the players’ names rather than what their habits are on the field.