Peter King Says Kirk Herbstreit Will Call 'Thursday Night Football' on Amazon

Kirk Herbstreit will be Amazon's analyst on Thursday Night Football broadcasts next season according to Peter King. In a dispatch from Indianapolis at the NFL Draft Combine, King says in his weekly Football Morning In America column that he has heard the streamer has "settled on" Herbstreit, who will continue to cover college football for ESPN and ABC. Via FMIA:

I heard last night that Amazon—spurned by Troy Aikman, Sean McVay and John Lynch—has settled on ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to be the analyst on its Thursday night package of NFL games starting this fall. (He’s likely to continue his current ESPN/ABC duties as well.) Andrew Marchand of the New York Post was first to connect the Amazon-Herbstreit dots on Feb. 27.

Not exactly the greatest endorsement of Herbstreit when it's phrased like that, indicating that Herbstreit was Amazon's fourth choice. King continued:

My first reaction: It seems weird. Amazon would rather have a very good college football analyst who’s never had a regular NFL job do the games than, say, Drew Brees or Sean Payton or Kurt Warner? My second reaction: Herbstreit’s a pro, he’s a big name to legions of college football fans, he must really want to break the college-to-NFL glass ceiling, Amazon surely wanted to make a splash with this hire, and Herbstreit’s a non-status-quo guy. He’s different. It’s a little edgy, a little risky. All that, just my educated guess.

Another non-endorsement there as King wonders why they wouldn't rather have Drew Brees, who has been underwhelming with NBC, or Sean Payton, who has no experience, but he does call him edgy and risky. It's also curious why ESPN, looking to solidify their Monday Night Football booth, spent a ton of money to bring in Troy Aikman when a hot commodity like Herbstreit was right there looking to call one NFL game a week. Perhaps that's what finally pushed Herbstreit to Amazon. More from King:

We’re still awaiting decision from two of the great play-by-play people of our lives, Al Michaels and Joe Buck, on their 2022 homes. But when you stream Amazon this fall to watch the Thursday night package, you’ll be hearing a new NFL voice, Kirk Herbstreit, interpret the games.

There you have it. Peter King says Kirk Herbstreit is going to work Amazon's Thursday Night Football games. It sure seems like everybody wants to cover sports media.