Peter King: Amazon Settles on ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit to Call NFL TNF Games

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit will reportedly announce NFL games on Thursday Night Football for Amazon in 2022, per Peter King of NBC Sports. 

Amazon is heading into its first year as an exclusive home for Thursday night games after agreeing to a deal last May. 

Herbstreit is expected to continue his role as a color commentator for ESPN. 

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post first reported Amazon was "eyeing" Herbstreit in February after failing to land Troy Aikman, John Lynch or Sean McVay. 

Aikman left Fox for ESPN, while McVay will remain the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams despite a reported $100 million offer to head into broadcasting, per Marchand. 

Lynch had a dinner with Amazon before turning it down in order to remain the San Francisco 49ers' general manager, while former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton had multiple meetings. 

The streaming service was clearly targeting a notable name to boost its NFL coverage and will end up with one of the biggest names in college football.

Herbstreit played quarterback at Ohio State, although he never reached the NFL before joining ESPN in 1996. He has served as a studio analyst for College GameDay, has won five Sports Emmy awards and often calls the biggest game of the week alongside Chris Fowler. 

The veteran analyst will now try to help Amazon live up to expectations as a broadcast home after the company shelled out approximately $1 billion per year for the rights to the games.