With Charles Davis now at CBS, FOX has to find a partner for Kevin Burkhardt
1. While the past few months have been all about Tony Romo's contract and the future of Monday Night Football's booth, we were treated to a good, old fashion NFL broadcasting shakeup over the weekend. And it was significant.
The first domino fell when CBS announced it wasn't retaining its No. 2 analyst, Dan Fouts, who has worked with Ian Eagle for several years.
I was hoping CBS would elevate Adam Archuleta to that position. I've written before that Archuleta is one of the more underrated analysts out there and he would've been a fine choice if CBS decided to stay in-house.
However, CBS moved fast to fill Fouts' job and it was a shocker. The network plucked Charles Davis from FOX's No. 2 crew.
Davis, who started at FOX calling college football, has been paired with Kevin Burkhardt in recent years.
These changes are significant because the No. 2 crew for each network calls a playoff game.
So now it's FOX that has to fill a prime job and find someone to work with the excellent Burkhardt.
Unlike CBS, FOX doesn't have much depth at all when it comes to analysts, so staying in-house could be a problem.
While Troy Aikman is a solid "A" as the network's lead analyst, the rest of the roster—Mark Schlereth, Ronde Barber, Daryl Johnston, Chris Spielman— is, to put it kindly, meh.
However, FOX did have an ace in the hole with Greg Olsen, who was excellent in calling a couple of games for them last season, however, Olsen passed on starting his broadcast career and signed with the Seahawks this offseason.
Here are a few suggestions for who FOX can turn to to fill the Davis' role:
• Nate Burleson: Burleson has a unique personality and wouldn't be your typical cookie-cutter analyst. He has called a few games for the NFL Network and has been a stand-out. FOX, though, would have to pry him from CBS' pregame show.
• Kurt Warner: Warner does a great job calling Monday Night Football for Westwood One Radio and could easily slide into this role without any problems.
• Dan Orlovsky: We've suggested Orlovsky for Monday Night Football, but if ESPN doesn't make that move, FOX should look into poaching him from ESPN.
• Chris Long: If you read Traina Thoughts, you know I'm a big fan of Long's,
, but this is a legit suggestion. Long's personality would make him an instant hit with viewers.
Since many of you have been cooped up with significant others for the past several weeks, I thought you'd appreciate this bit by Jerry Seinfeld on the importance of tone.
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