The Vikings have taken issue with Panthers tight end Greg Olsen serving as a broadcaster for Sunday’s game against the Rams because they believe he could take things he learns while on the job and funnel them back to the Panthers to give Carolina an undue advantage for their upcoming game against Minnesota.
That objection remains despite the fact that Olsen won’t be attending any practices or production meetings involving the Vikings, but it’s not one that Olsen believes is warranted. While there will be production meetings with FOX Sports personnel, Olsen said Wednesday that “if you’re spilling your deepest, darkest game plan secrets to the broadcast crew that’s kind of on you” and that he’s not going to learn anything more than the scouts that already attend games are going to learn.
“The notion that I’m going to gain an unfair advantage is crazy,” Olsen said, via ESPN.com. “We have scouts at every game across the league. I’m going to have enough trouble on my hands broadcasting a game, let alone looking for little nuances on the sideline. I don’t know how much time I’ll have for stealing of secrets. I never was intending or thought I was in a production meeting. I never thought I would watch a practice.”
Olsen said he’d feel the same way if there was a Vikings player in the booth for a Panthers game, but there currently aren’t any plans for any new faces in the booth for either of the Panthers games on the slate ahead of their matchup with Minnesota.