[sportscurmudgeon]

Football players who made themselves into good announcers (play-by-play and/or color commentators) might include:

Al DeRogatis
Pat Summerall
Tom Brookshier
"Dandy" Don Meredith
Merlin Olsen
Dan Fouts
Dan Dierdorff (earlier in his career)
Troy Aikman
"Moose" Johnston
Cris Collinsworth
Ron Jaworski


It is perfectly possible for a player to be very good at play-by-play and/or color commentary.

Emmitt Smith had an "easier" job being a studio analyst (as opposed to doing live game coverage) where there was more time to prepare remarks for "set pieces". Emmitt Smith was a great player; I have no reason to doubt that he is a good person too; but he was just awful on the mic.

I do not revel in his firing; I am glad I will not have to listen to him anymore however...