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Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly will be Netflix’s new No. 1 NFL game analyst after impressing the streamer’s executives during a recent tryout, according to sources briefed on the move who were granted anonymity because the news has not been formally announced.
Kuechly will first team with NBC’s Noah Eagle during the second game of the regular season Thursday, Sept. 10, when the Los Angeles Rams face the San Francisco 49ers from the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. NBC is producing the game for Netflix.
Netflix has five NFL games this season. Christmas will be a doubleheader, requiring a second broadcast team.
Netflix declined comment on Kuechly.
Kuechly will officially be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.
Earlier this month, Kuechly and Eagle met at NBC’s Stamford, Conn., studios for the tryout. While Kuechly is entering the Hall of Fame, he is not an ex-quarterback. He played only eight NFL seasons in Carolina, and his profile wasn’t as high as some of the usual candidates for these positions. Netflix previously has used J.J. Watt, Greg Olsen, Drew Brees, Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan. Still, Kuechly, like his ex-teammate Olsen at Fox, had a desire to be in the booth and has studied for the opportunity.
Kuechly, 35, entered the audition with some experience, having been the radio analyst on the Panthers broadcast with play-by-player Anish Shroff. He also hosts a podcast with his longtime teammate, J.J. Jansen. Last season, he did two “Monday Night Football Playbook” alt-casts on ESPN2 with Dan Orlovsky and Field Yates.
During the tryout, Eagle, 29, and Kuechly showed immediate chemistry, according to sources who watched the audition, making the Netflix executives very comfortable turning to Kuechly as they sought to bring a new, fresh name into the No. 1 NFL TV booths.
The top crews are dominated by quarterbacks with Tom Brady at Fox, Tony Romo at CBS and Troy Aikman at CBS, while NBC, with Cris Collinsworth, and Prime Video, with Kirk Herbstreit, have ex-players who worked their way up the broadcasting ladder. (Herbstreit was a college quarterback.)
Now, Netflix will turn to Kuechly for a new voice in a top booth.
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