Vocal quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell can be a divisive figure in CFL circles, with fans of opposing teams sometimes taking issue with his trademark swagger.
However, when the Calgary Stampeders’ franchise pivot tried his hand at broadcasting during the 108th Grey Cup, he heard little in the way of criticism from those watching.
“Luckily, I don’t have Twitter anymore, just Instagram,” Mitchell chuckled during an appearance on The SportsCage.
The two-time Most Outstanding Player provided insight and analysis pre-and-post game as part of a panel with TSN’s James Duthie, looking like a natural on camera. The rewarding experience has made him consider a future broadcasting career up in the booth.
“It was awesome. Honestly, I got good feedback. I had a great time,” Mitchell said. “I might take the [Tony] Romo route and come sit by [Glen] Suitor and announce a couple games, do some colour commentating, because that was a lot of fun.”
Star quarterbacks jumping straight from the field and into the booth has become all the rage south of the border, thanks to the success of the former Dallas Cowboys’ starter. The CBS colour commentator will reportedly earn $17 million for his work next season, making him the highest paid NFL broadcaster by a wide margin.
Mitchell won’t see money anywhere near that level from TSN, but he would be a big name addition to the broadcasting crew. The Eastern Washington product already considers Romo one of his biggest influences in terms of play-style and could follow in his footsteps further post-retirement.
Mitchell admitted he already pays attention to what analysts are saying about him as a player. While early in his career he hung on every word and took things personally, he now uses broadcasts as free self-scouting when analysts like Suitor make observations about how he plays in certain situations.
“If Glen is picking up on this tendency, obviously some defensive players, defensive coaches are picking up on it as well,” Mitchell explained. “I do tend to listen to a couple things they say, but when it comes to the compliments or the criticisms, I just kind of look the other way.”
One of the league’s most intelligent dissectors of defences, Mitchell might one day share his own tendency scouting with fans live on air, but not for a few more years. Despite injuries holding him back of late, the 32-year-old wants to emulate a quarterback who hasn’t picked up a microphone.
“Man, when you watch Tom Brady play until he’s 46, he finally retired and everybody’s talking about the rumours right away that he’s still coming back to play,” Mitchell said.
“It just goes to show, man, if you’re a player, you’re a player and you wanna play the game. You’re gonna play the game as long as you can. As long as my body will let me, I’ll continue to traffic.”
