Best NFL color analysts you want calling your team’s game
Which NFL color analysts would you most want to call your team’s game?
Greg Olsen will play at least one more NFL season, signing with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason. Once he hangs up his cleats, though, the tight end will be the newest member of the NFL on FOX broadcasting team.
As reported by multiple outlets, Olsen will be joining the B team as a color analyst. Given his guest appearances in recent years, the longtime NFL veteran seems like he’ll be well-suited for the role and worth FOX’s time. However, it does bring to mind who the best guys are in that role.
So then, which NFL color analysts would you most want to call your favorite team’s games? Let’s take a look — but first, let’s talk about some honorable mentions.
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Honorable Mentions (Current): Mark Schlereth (FOX), Adam Archuleta (CBS). Honorable Mentions (Former): Dan Fouts (CBS), Dan Dierdorf (CBS), Ron Jaworski (ESPN).
5. Trent Green (C Team, CBS)
Trent Green has been a color analyst for several years now, starting with the NFL on FOX before replacing Dan Dierdorf on CBS. Green is paired well with Greg Gumbel, who both call a great game. They do not talk over each other, offer great analysis and never grate on your nerves by constantly talking (something that has bothered me about the lead color analyst on CBS, Tony Romo).
When CBS parted ways with Dan Fouts on their B team, I would have liked to see Green or Rich Gannon moved up to replace Fouts. They both deserve higher billing on the NFL on CBS and would have provided the solid analysis they provide each week.
4. Daryl Johnston (B Team, FOX)
With news that Greg Olsen would join the B team on FOX with Kevin Burkhardt once he retires from the NFL, it was also reported that Daryl Johnston would move back to the B team (a team he was on years ago with Kenny Albert and Tony “Goose” Siragusa). Johnston will stay on that team until Olsen retires from the NFL.
Johnston most recently worked with Chris Meyers, usually calling the fifth most important game of the week on FOX. He is a lot like Green, offering sound analysis, providing great insight into the game and not annoying you during a broadcast. Johnston will be a good team with Burkhardt until Olsen joins that team down the line.
3. Cris Collinsworth (Sunday Night Football, NBC)
People have mixed emotions when it comes to Cris Collinsworth. Some think he is too critical on players and others think he talks too much during a game. I like Collinsworth and hope NBC keeps him in their Sunday Night Football booth for some time to come. Yet, NBC signed a deal that is similar to the Olsen deal on FOX that, when Drew Brees retires, he will work at NBC calling Notre Dame games, which may eventually lead to Brees calling SNF games.
At this time, Collinsworth and Al Michaels are a great team and are usually calling the best NFL matchup every Sunday night. I like that Collinsworth does not hold back in his analysis and is equally critical of each team that is playing each week. That is the true mark of a great NFL color analyst.
2. Rich Gannon (D Team, CBS)
Rich Gannon, a former NFL quarterback, is an underrated announcer that, like Green, should be higher on the NFL on CBS pecking order. Gannon provides great insight as a quarterback in his NFL analysis and is paired well with broadcasting great Kevin Harlan (this would make for a great B team on CBS) who call a great game and do so, once again, without discussing the same storylines during the game (something that Al Michaels does over and over again on the SNF broadcast).
A great professional and someone who offers great insight into the game, Gannon is a great announcer week in and week out.
1. Troy Aikman (A Team, FOX)
Troy Aikman is the most solid analyst on football and has been calling games for several decades now. He is paired with Joe Buck, who is another divisive announcer among fans. However, I do not mind Buck and Aikman’s personality is the perfect pairing with Buck calling the most important game of the week on FOX and also call Thursday Night Football.
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Aikman provides great analysis and is an analyst, that unlike Tony Romo, will never seem to grate on your nerves during NFL games.