Greg Olsen is about to call his first Super Bowl. Don't let Tom Brady make it his last

Here’s something you don’t hear often: Tom Brady needs to be benched.

And the NFL on Fox needs to do it.

Sort of. There’s a role for Brady at the network — he’s Tom Brady, there’s a role for him at the Circle K on the corner if he wants it. It just shouldn't be the one he signed on for.

The greatest NFL quarterback of all time announced Wednesday that he is retiring from football. For now, anyway; we went through this drama last year, too, till Brady changed his mind and came back to football for another season.

This year is different, though. Brady has gone through a high-profile divorce that, if you believe what you read, was at least in part the result of his return to the game.

More:Everything to know about Super Bowl 2023: Prediction, date, ticket prices, performers

Brady's Fox Sports contract is reportedly worth $350 million

But he also signed a deal with Fox Sports that, according to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, who knows about such things, is worth $350 million over 10 years. People lost their minds when CBS paid Tony Romo $17 million a year. This is nearly double that.

But again, he’s Tom Brady.

As part of the deal, Brady can assume the role of game analyst on Fox’s No. 1 NFL broadcast team whenever he wants it. Understandable — if you shell out that kind of money you’re going to want a return on your investment. No decision has been made on when Brady will take over.

Here’s the problem: Fox’s No. 1 NFL broadcast team already has a first-rate analyst. Greg Olsen is in his first year, along with Kevin Burkhardt, who calls play-by-play. They’ll call their first Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Feb. 12.

Brady shouldn’t make it Olsen’s last.

Directing the big game:This Arizona man makes the Super Bowl more than a 'show'

Why Fox Sports should keep Greg Olsen

Burkhardt and Olsen really grew into their roles this season. They’d been a team before their promotion, and they were … fine. But this is one of those cases where they rose to the occasion, Olsen in particular. He is enjoying his Romo moment, a flavor-of-the-month popularity among football Twitter — a tough crowd — and football fans at large as one of the best analysts working.

It’s deserved. Olsen is smart and he’s good at explaining what’s going on with both inside knowledge (he played tight end for years in the NFL) and has a patience that works for casual fans.

He can be a little loquacious — at times he doesn’t seem to trust that silence can often be more powerful than anything a broadcaster can utter in the moment. (That takes experience — Olsen should listen to the late, great Vin Scully call LA Dodgers games for homework.)

But overall Olsen has been not only good but much better than expected.

Map mistake:The NFL seems to think Super Bowl 57 is being played in the Grand Canyon

Keep Olsen with Burkhardt; give Brady a show like the ManningCast

So what to do with Brady? A three-man booth is awkward and unwieldy (unless it’s made up of Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford, but they’re all deceased) and highly unlikely. That makes Olsen the odd man out.

But how about this? Peyton and Eli Manning — along with ESPN — have enjoyed success with “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli.” It’s a goofball broadcast, supplemental to the main one with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, with guests and banter and actual insight slipped in between the jokes and insults.

Brady has been a guest. He’s not as loose as Eli; he’s more of a straightforward Peyton type. But why not give Brady a similar show on Fox, to run concurrent with the main broadcast? There would be a built-in audience. Players and celebrities would clamor to be guests. And who knows, Brady might be good at it.

Granted, he doesn’t seem like the fun-loving type when it comes to football. But he doesn’t really seem like the analyst type, either. Yet Fox is backing the money truck up to his mansion in hopes that he is.

Whatever Fox does, they should do it sooner than later. Olsen has had a dream season, and he doesn’t deserve to have this sword of Damocles hanging over him while he prepares to call his first Super Bowl.

Come on, Fox. Don’t let it be his last.

Some saguaro:Goofy by day, glowing by night: Why you really should see the Super Bowl Experience cactus

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dear Fox: Don't let Tom Brady take Greg Olsen's job