Kirk Herbstreit ‘more open’ to leaving college broadcast for NFL

Kirk Herbstreit and his partner Chris Fowler drew rave reviews for the work they did calling the Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants game in Week 1 of the NFL season, but the tandem’s work on “Monday Night Football” is only considered temporary. However, Herbstreit admits the arrangement has him changing the way he thinks — even just a little.

Herbstreit and Fowler will once again call an NFL game this upcoming Monday night, as Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports they have been assigned to the rescheduled game between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots. Herbstreit and Fowler will work the Clemson-Miami game on Saturday night before traveling to Foxboro.

While college football is certainly Herbstreit’s specialty, he told The Big Lead this week that he was “blown away by how much I enjoyed” calling Steelers-Giants in Week 1. The former Ohio State star indicated college football will always be his biggest passion, but he says his thoughts on calling NFL games have changed.

“I had an absolute ball calling that game and it made me reflect a little bit differently toward my future and what I might want to do down the road,” Herbstreit admitted. “Like I said, I hope to always do college football. But if NFL would be in my future, I’m a lot more open to that thought than I was maybe prior to that experience.”

There has been talk that Herbstreit and Fowler could permanently move to “Monday Night Football” at some point, and that chatter only became louder after their debut. Still, Herbstreit made it clear recently that college football remains his priority.

For now, it seems like Herbstreit will continue to get his fix of NFL action as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. More schedule changes are likely to be made going forward, and Monday probably won’t be the last time Herbstreit and Fowler are called upon for double duty.