Sorry but hard disagree. I’ve noticed many former players are actually worse analysts than knowledgeable fans…in any sport. Sure, they understand the the inner workings of the whole experience better than the fans. When it comes to actually being able to size up matchups, make predictions, etc none of them are making millions on sports betting. They also tend to get tunnel vision and relate everything to their own subjective experience although there’s lots of variation within sports career, coaching, systems, ownerships, etc.
In addition some former players simply aren’t very bright but have an attitude that they know it all because they’ve “been there.” They make plenty of stupid calls and often don’t understand cap implications like fans do.
The best analyst I’ve seen, who is awesome at using his football experience to explain the game as a player, and without bias give solid takes, is Deion Sanders.