Retired quarterback and Super Bowl champion Drew Brees made it clear he wants a second chance to be on the call of NFL games.
After retiring following the 2020 season, Brees immediately went to work for NBC. He largely split his time as an analyst for Notre Dame football and as a voice on the network’s “Sunday Night Football” studio show. He was in the booth during two NFL games.
He spent one year with the network, which announced before the 2022 season that Brees wouldn’t be back for family considerations. A New York Post report at the time said Brees wanted to be in the booth for NFL games and out of the studio, adding that NBC didn’t see a future for Brees as a backup for, or heir apparent to, Cris Collinsworth.
But in a post to social media on Saturday, Brees, 45, said he would welcome a return to “SNF” or one of its primetime competitors.
“SNF, MNF or Thursday Night Football. Come get me when you’re ready! Until then I’m coaching ball,” the father of four wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He accompanied his post with a clip from a news conference earlier this week in which he addressed his broadcasting aspirations.
“The thing that I wanted to do most that I felt like I could bring the most value at was broadcasting NFL games,” Brees said. “And it was the thing I had the least opportunity to do, right? I was able to do a little bit of college at Notre Dame. Just two NFL games broadcasting that were eight weeks apart and then the studio stuff, right? But, man, I love the game and I would love to broadcast NFL games, you know, at some point again. I think I could be the best at it.”
With the NFL spreading the rights to broadcast games beyond the traditional networks — Netflix has the Christmas Day package in its first foray into the NFL, for example — Brees could have a chance to get back in the booth. But the primetime jobs Brees said he covets are taken.
Collinsworth is entrenched at NBC and at “SNF.” Troy Aikman provides the commentary for longtime partner Joe Buck for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” And Kirk Herbstreit handles the Thursday night duties on Amazon Prime.
No. 1 jobs at CBS and Fox Sports are taken, too.
Tony Romo is a fixture at CBS alongside partner Jim Nantz. And Tom Brady is scheduled to make his much-anticipated debut as the top analyst for Fox Sports this fall, bumping Greg Olsen to the No. 2 team.
Brees has something to look forward to down the road, however. He is likely to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot when he becomes eligible in 2026.
Brees spent his career with the San Diego Chargers (2001-05) and New Orleans Saints (2006-20). A 13-time Pro Bowl selection and a 2006 All-Pro, Brees was the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.
He is second to Tom Brady in a number of career statistical categories, including passing yards (80,358), touchdown passes (571) and completions (7,142).
–Field Level Media
