When celebrities go out to places where they are easily recognizable, they want to be treated as if they were just a regular person. Well, that was the case for Nate Burleson as well when he started at CBS This Morning in September.
On the latest edition of the 10 Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast, Burleson talked about his first week and some of the heavy stories he had to cover such as the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida, and the 20-year remembrance of 9/11. He appreciated that the crew at CBS This Morning put him on the impactful stories right out of the gate and didn’t treat him as someone just coming from a sports background.
“They didn’t have me start off by saying hey what’s up man, I’m Nate, and we are over here in Times Square. That wasn’t it. They were like we hired him for a reason, we know how intelligent he is, let’s give him the same assignments we give everyone else. If he is coming in talking about topics that aren’t impactful, then why is he here? That week one was a good start,” said Burleson.
Nate Burleson mentioned that when he was in the pitch meetings with CBS, he wanted to be on the serious stories and eventually, he wants to get those opportunities to go to some “really gritty places” and “experience unique food and cultures.”
“One of the things we talked about when we had our pitch meeting was all of the things I am interested in. I said look, I don’t want the glamour assignments. I want you to send me into the thick of it. So, hopefully, I get to experience that when I am on assignment doing pieces, features, and essays for CBS Mornings.”
When Burleson isn’t on CBS This Morning, he is previewing games on Sunday on The NFL Today. He says that he sees the DNA of another successful pregame show in their own.
“If you like NBA on TNT, you would most likely like our show. The reason I say that is because you see Chuck and Shaq go at it and they bicker all show long, that’s the same exact thing that Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason do. Not just on the show, but be a fly on the wall during the commercial break. There is this atmosphere of a true locker room even though we are all from different eras, we all sit there and rib each other like we played together.”
With the way Nate Burleson can have fun talking about football or being serious when talking about the news, he is becoming one of the more versatile people in the industry and he is happy to be given the chance to not be seen as just the ex-NFL athlete.
