One of college football's biggest voices is making the leap to the NFL. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit is reportedly joining Amazon as the voice of its new "Thursday Night Football" broadcast, according to Peter King of NBC Sports.

Herbstreit's new role with Amazon will not impact his duties at ESPN. Herbstreit will provide color commentary for Amazon. The company is still looking for a broadcaster to call play-by-play. Joe Buck and Al Michaels have been mentioned as possible candidates for that role.

Amazon and Herbstreit reportedly had mutual interest in a partnership in the weeks leading up to his reported hiring, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. Though Herbstreit mostly calls college football games at ESPN, he has experience at the NFL level. ESPN tabbed Chris Fowler and Herbstreit to call a "Monday Night Football" broadcast in 2020. The duo also called an NFL game last season.

Herbstreit apparently wasn't Amazon's first choice for the gig. The company was "spurned" by Troy Aikman, Sean McVay and John Lynch, according to King. Herbstreit is considered a strong and well-liked analyst, so the hiring shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a downgrade.

Herbstreit has a good reputation as an analyst, but isn't above criticism. Herbstreit drew scorn in January after suggesting college football players who skipped bowl games didn't "love football." Herbstreit later attempted to clarify those comments on Twitter.

Tabbing a college football analyst to lead NFL coverage sounds like a bold choice, but Herbstreit has experience calling NFL games, and an analyst having a slightly different perspective isn't always a bad thing.