The biggest takeaway from Tom Brady’s future announcement concerns Greg Olsen

1. Sports Affairs Journal Ben Fischer announced Thursday that Tom Brady will return to Fox’s main NFL booth next season. Brady’s agent, Don Yee, told Fischer: “Tom has had a tremendous amount of fun working with Fox this year, and he is really excited about the future with Fox and his growth as a part of their team.” And this year was the first year of a long relationship.

SBJ EXCLUSIVE: Despite speculation about his involvement in broadcasting, 𝗧𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

His agent Don Yee confirmed that Brady intends to fulfill the terms of his contract with Fox, which has 9 seasons remaining. https://t.co/ISocUnPwP6 pic.twitter.com/C12JzrZjoN

– Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) January 16, 2025

Brady, who signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox, gave no indication that he would not be back with the network for a second year, despite his ownership role with the Raiders. So it wasn’t really explosive news. .

The biggest takeaway here for NFL fans is that if you were hoping Brady would focus 100% of his attention on the Raiders so Greg Olsen could reunite with Kevin Burkhardt, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

The Olsen situation remains fascinating and frustrating. You can argue he’s the best NFL analyst on television. I have Olsen as the second best analyst behind Troy Aikman, but if you think Olsen is the best, I wouldn’t argue with that.

Olsen not having a primary position does a huge disservice to NFL fans. We really missed him in the wild card round last week and it’s a shame Olsen won’t call one of the four divisional playoff games this weekend because he absolutely should. When someone is as good at their job as Olsen, having him on the sideline during the most important games of the season sucks.

Not only are we without Olsen in the playoffs, but it also looks like we will be without Olsen in the biggest games for a while.

Tony Romo has five years left on his contract with CBS. NBC’s Cris Collinsworth recently signed a new deal with NBC. Kirk Herbstreit has two years left on his contract with Amazon Prime, as does Aikman with ESPN.

It’s hard to imagine how Olsen can get a top job right now. And that’s a loss for every NFL viewer.

2. If you need to get even more pumped up for this week’s Ravens-Bills/Lamar Jackson-Josh Allen battle, CBS has what you need with this hot video.

Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen 😤

It’s going to be a movie 🍿

Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+ 📺 pic.twitter.com/MY9fcDI4Y1

– NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 16, 2025

3. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is taking some heat for this comment, but he’s 100% right.

Paul Finebaum on the schedule for the Army-Navy game:

“I know I’m going to upset someone, but Army-Navy game week has to be playoff week. It’s a wasted Saturday.”

(via @MattBarrie) https://t.co/RJ3MmTtaCH pic.twitter.com/pxgNSW5g5d

– Sur3 (@On3sports) January 16, 2025

This Saturday, where the only college football game played all day is Army-Navy, is absolutely a wasted day. The Army-Navy game may have a standalone window at noon, 3:30 p.m. or 8 p.m., but there is no reason why it should be the only game scheduled for that Saturday every year.

4. A big shout out to Commanders kicker Zane Gonzalez for being so open this week about dealing with OCD. THE Washington Post published an interesting article on Gonzalez. He has also spoken publicly about what he is going through.

Washington Commanders kicker Zane Gonzalez welcomes his viral moment as an opportunity to learn about OCD. pic.twitter.com/Fx9qmRXCgL

– AP NFL (@AP_NFL) January 16, 2025

5. Charles Barkley is worried about the ban on TikTok which is expected to take place on Sunday.

“Get your TikTok before it’s illegal” 😂

Chuck 💀 pic.twitter.com/Elu1IeMYmR

– NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 17, 2025

6. A new Sports Media with Jimmy Traina the podcast features a conversation with AthleticsSports media journalist Richard Deitsch.

Topics covered include why NFL playoff viewership has declined, NFL broadcasters; what Deion Sanders coaching the Dallas Cowboys would mean for the networks; Tom Brady’s alleged “conflict of interest” as Raiders owner calling a Lions game while trying to hire Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson; disappointing College Football Playoff rankings; The national appeal of Notre-Dame; the usefulness of NFL rules analysts in the booth; WWE’s new partnership with Netflix and more.

After Deitsch, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include NFL betting, NFL divisional playoff games, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo meeting Timothée Chalamet on the red carpet for A complete strangera new Jerry Springer documentary, Sal getting into trouble at home and much more. Plus, there is a surprise appearance from Russo.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of the divisional round this weekend, here’s some old school CBS with Pat Summerall and John Madden doing the intro to the 1986 playoff game between the Niners and Giants.

Make sure to find previous editions of Traina Thoughts and consult the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify Or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X And Instagram.