News dropped last week that Troy Aikman is reportedly set to join the Monday Night Football booth on ESPN. Now, not only does Fox need a new color commentator alongside Joe Buck, but Amazon is still on the lookout for an analyst for its Thursday Night Football broadcast on Prime Video this fall.
New York Daily News columnist Bob Raissman believes the man Amazon should be looking at for the position is Phil Simms.
“He may not be fresh off the field, but Simms sounds like he never left it,” Raissman wrote. “Most importantly, Simms has a distinct personality. His country wit, and comforting presence, makes him one of the most likeable NFL analysts on TV. Yet he also has the unique ability to deliver hard truths and caustic opinions (even on the NFL media) when necessary.”
Simms, who has been with CBS for nearly 20 years, has the experience working games with some of the best in the business (Greg Gumbel, Jim Nantz, Dick Enberg). The chance to add another veteran voice to the presentation, Raissman writes, is something that Amazon brass should realize is staring them in the face.
Raissman isn’t the only one sharing that opinion, by the way. Former New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks is campaigning for Fox to hire his old teammate for the broadcast booth.
Responding to Banks’s tweet, WFAN’s Evan Roberts and Craig Carton also advocated Simms as a good hire for Fox.
“(T)hey should realize there is a marquee voice in the ozone who would bring instant credibility to their product, a voice who is as good or better than any of the candidates who have surfaced,” Raissman wrote.
No telling if Simms has anything in his current CBS contract that would allow him to make the jump to Amazon if they came calling. But Raissman and others are clearly advocating for the former Giants quarterback to get a shot.