Report: New network courting Troy Aikman to assemble new football broadcast team

Amazon has a vision for its streaming cast of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, and now they believe they’ve located their voice. The streaming conglomerate wants to hire FOX’s Troy Aikman as its lead analyst for its Thursday Night Football package in 2022. If they can acquire Aikman’s services, they would like to team him with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, according to Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been a part of the Fox Sports NFL broadcast since 2001. Aikman and his teammate Joe Buck, have called a total of six Super Bowls together and numerous amount of NFC championship games since 2002.

Troy Aikman is widely considered as one of the best quarterbacks of his era and arguably the greatest Cowboys quarterback ever. He was drafted with the first overall pick in 1989 by the Dallas Cowboys and retired with them in 2000, spending all twelve of his NFL seasons in Dallas. During his playing days, Aikman was known as one of the Cowboy triplets; along with Michael Irving and Emmitt Smith. All three players are in the Hall of Fame and the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor, after being one of the most dominant forces in the NFL for the early part of the 90s.

Aikman is a three-time Super Bowl champ, one-time Super Bowl MVP, a six-time Pro Bowler, and was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 1997. Aikman finished his career with 32,942 passing yards, a completion percentage of 61.5, 165 touchdowns, and 141 interceptions.

Former Cowboys are everywhere

If the move does happen and somehow he also stays with FOX, Aikman would not be the first former Cowboy turned analyst to pull double duty between two organizations.. After a surprise announcement in August that Max Kellerman was moving on from ESPN’s morning show First Take, ESPN announced that a rotating group of ESPN personalities will join Stephen A. Smith on the weekday show. Former Miami Hurricane and Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin joined the show on Mondays.

Irvin has previously jarred on-air with Smith about the Cowboys, as Smith infamously mocks them on a regular basis. Irvin, who is a Hall of Famer, spent his entire 12-year professional football career in Dallas. He played 159 games and started in 147 of them. Irvin had 11,904 receiving yards and 65 touchdowns on 750 catches. His career average for yards per reception was 15.9. Irvin played for three Super Bowl-winning Dallas teams in the 1990s. 

Prior to his career with the Cowboys, Irvin played college football at Miami from 1985-1987; making him a member of the 1987 national championship team. Irvin tallied 2,423 yards and 26 touchdowns on 143 receptions. He was the No. 11 overall selection in the 1988 NFL Draft.