Greg Olsen has heard all of the talk about him potentially gaining an unfair advantage by joining the FOX broadcast team for Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, but that does not mean he is going to change his plans.
With the Carolina Panthers on a bye, Olsen agreed months ago to join FOX announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis in calling the Week 11 game. Vikings general manager Rick Spielman considers that a problem, and he told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network that he has asked FOX and the NFL to assign Olsen to a different game.
The Vikings have a potentially important game against the Panthers on Dec. 10, and Spielman and others are worried that Olsen might get access to inside information. Olsen thinks the concerns are ridiculous.
“The notion that I’m going to gain an unfair advantage is crazy,” Olsen said Wednesday, via David Newton of ESPN.com. “We have scouts at every game across the league. I’m going to have enough trouble on my hands broadcasting a game, let alone looking for little nuances on the sideline.
“I don’t know how much time I’ll have for stealing of secrets. I never was intending or thought I was in a production meeting. I never thought I would watch a practice.”
Olsen, who has been on injured reserve with a foot injury since Week 2, is not going to be a part of productions meetings or be allowed at Vikings’ practices — not that he thinks that would be a big deal.
“For anyone who has ever been in those broadcast production meetings, if you’re spilling your deepest, darkest game plan secrets to the broadcast crew that’s kind of on you,” he said. “We’re not getting anything that’s really going to give you much insight on how to beat them.
“I don’t even know what to say. I never imagined in a million years when FOX asked me to do this five months ago that this was ever going to become an issue.”
Olsen said he is disappointed that his upcoming presence in the booth has created controversy as opposed to excitement for fans who are going to hear a different perspective, but he understands that this is a “highly competitive world.”
In an era where we have heard of teams going to some insane lengths to ensure their information is not stolen, the Olsen controversy isn’t exactly shocking.
