ESPN’s Chris Fowler is best known for his work alongside Kirk Herbstreit on the network’s top college football games every week. Both broadcasters have added some NFL work to their résumés, with Herbstreit calling Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video with Al Michaels, and Fowler taking the occasional extra ESPN assignments not taken by Joe Buck.
Football fans have largely gotten used to hearing Herbstreit every Thursday night. Hearing Fowler call pro football is still a relatively rare experience, however, and it’s jarring for many fans—especially college football diehards.
Fowler is calling Saturday’s sloppy Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers AFC North tilt on ESPN, and hearing his voice in the booth alongside Dan Orlovsky and Lance Riddick has been a unique experience.
i know announcers call a bunch of different things, but my brain misfires when chris fowler is calling an NFL game. joe buck can call baseball. i love jim nantz doing golf! even herbie can do amazon broadcasts. but fowler? i am unsettled
— natty seltzer 🏆 (@seltzermom) January 6, 2024
fowler on nfl games has taken some getting used to but what will never ever be normal is him finishing a sentence and someone other than herbstreit starts talking https://t.co/04g84lQKHU
— Bill DiFilippo (@billdifilippo) January 6, 2024
Chris Fowler. Good NFL announcer. #nflonespn #PITvsBAL https://t.co/X8tY222AMo
— 𓅓 Salmon Lover Boy 𓅓 (@hayzowl) January 6, 2024
I know announcers call a bunch of different sports, but my brain goes haywire when Chris Fowler is calling an NFL game.
— Luke Perrin (@glukeperrin) January 6, 2024
Some find it particularly weird for Fowler to be on an NFL assignment just days before he calls the year’s biggest college football game: the Michigan vs. Washington national championship in Houston, as New York Post media reporter Andrew Marchand pointed out:
This is one of the many reasons it was weird to move from Levy to Fowler. https://t.co/xfsXJMuqsE
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 6, 2024
Wait Chris Fowler is doing pxp for this Steelers-Ravens game??? Isn’t he doing the Natty title game in 48 hours? ESPN got no one to else to do competent NFL play by play????
— KD (@skd215) January 6, 2024
Ultimately, Fowler’s a pro’s pro, and ESPN probably doesn’t have a more talented announcer available to call today’s game. Most of the reviews do seem to be very positive.
The Chris Fowler, Louis Riddick, Dan Orlovsky 3 man crew do such a good job in this Steelers vs Ravens game. Riddick and Orlovsky should get a NFL game a week. No cheesy fake excited voice calls or 1 liners. Talk str8 ball. #NFL NFL
— Akeem (@TN_DreamAMT) January 6, 2024
Chris Fowler is so good. The @NFL should make him the TNF guy
— MoneyMoves (@MoneyMoves25) January 6, 2024
Still, it makes sense that the assignment is weird on the ears for so many fans, with his voice so attached to the college game.
