Greg Olsen addresses rumors linking him to Carolina Panthers opening

Greg Olsen can play the semantics game. The one-time Carolina Panther star turned top NFL analyst, would love to be the team’s new head coach.

“Who wouldn’t,” Olsen said Thursday during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. But then he added later in the interview that the head coaching job “is not something I’m actively pursuing.”

The one-win Panthers could be the worst team in the NFL this season. Team owner David Tepper, who was frustrated with the Panthers’ play, fired Frank Reich, Monday, after only 11 games into his first season in Carolina. So the Panthers are searching for their fourth full-time head coach since 2019.

Olsen, who is lead analyst for FOX NFL games, lives in Charlotte. It’s where he’s raising his family. Plus, he has sweat equity in the Panthers. He played there from 2011 through 2019, making the Pro Bowl three times. Most believed he was one of the top tight ends in the game. He probably was the best in Panthers history. His 524 catches and 6,463 yards receiving yards are the most by a tight end in Carolina history. And he’s quickly risen to the top of the TV game since retiring after the 2020 season.

But can he be a head coach with no experience other than playing the game? He’s definitely open to the idea of giving it a try.

“I would call the A game at Fox for 30 years if that was what in the cards,” Olsen said. “But again, we all know how this whole world works, right? You know it, people come and go … opportunities come and go. So I’m just never a believer in anything of just slamming the door on anything that you love and anything that you’re passionate about. I think we all entertain opportunities we all are, and whether the opportunity comes or not, I don’t know right.

“It’s a hypothetical situation. So to me, that’s one half the equation. and the other half of the equation is in this hypothetical scenario is why not? And again, not me, I got your Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom, Brady, whoever. Why can’t former players who have learned the ins and outs of football and been around it for 20 plus years, just because it wasn’t in the assistant coach world. But it was in a very similar, highly involved highly stressful locker room. Why not? Why do we just dismiss that as a pathway? I don’t know. I think it’s an interesting conversation for people to have because other sports don’t dismiss it. Other sports are open to it. I don’t have the answer, I just think it’s an interesting conversation.”

So how about it, Panthers fans. Would you want one of your own leading the team?