Greg Olsen might have his next career pivot picked out.
The ex-Panthers tight end and current Fox analyst would reportedly be interested in the vacant Carolina head coaching job, if approached, according to The Athletic.
The Panthers fired Frank Reich on Monday after he fell to 1-10 in his first season with the team.
Reich admitted his disappointment to the Charlotte Observer and said it may be the end of his NFL road.
“There’s a heart-pounding disappointment in not hitting the marks that we needed to hit to keep this going and try to get it turned around,” Reich said. “It hurts me for the guys, the team, the coaches and the fans.”
He’s the second coach to be fired this season, following the Raiders moving on from Josh McDaniels.
Olsen would be an intriguing candidate if he were to officially throw his hat into the ring.
The 38-year-old last suited up for the Seahawks in 2020 and has limited coaching experience as the leader of his son’s Pop Warner team.
Still, he could be thinking about exiting the booth before being replaced by Tom Brady as Fox’s top analyst as early as next season.
Olsen wouldn’t be the first former NFLer-turned-analyst to land a head coaching job without significant experience — if hired by the Panthers, he wouldn’t even be the first one to replace Reich.
In 2022, the Colts fired Reich and installed former center Jeff Saturday as his interim replacement despite having coached just three seasons of high school ball.
Saturday went 1-7 to finish the season and was replaced by Shane Steichen, and subsequently returned to his role at ESPN.
Over a 14-season NFL career, Olsen was one of the NFL’s top tight ends, amassing 8,683 receiving yards and 60 touchdowns, making three Pro Bowls and twice named to the All-Pro second team.
Whether it would translate to coaching is a question that might be answered soon enough.
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