This will mark the second season of NFL Christmas GameDay on Netflix, and a slew of familiar voices will be on the call with families gathered around the Christmas tree this winter.
At the Front Office Sports “Tuned In” summit on Tuesday, editor-in-chief Daniel Roberts announced the broadcast teams for each of the two games.
The first game will feature the Dallas Cowboys traveling to Washington for a pivotal NFC East matchup. The broadcast will be led by a CBS trio of Ian Eagle, Nate Burleson, and Matt Ryan, with the latter two joining the game from the NFL Today studio.
For the second game, the Detroit Lions will take on the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC North battle. NBC’s Noah Eagle and former NBC analyst Drew Brees will call the game.
Previously, Brees was announced as a game analyst in his first return to a national NFL call since a short-lived stint at NBC in 2022. Brees’ performance will likely be one of the big media storylines from Netflix’s second go-round on Christmas as the legendary quarterback continues to tout his own abilities as a broadcaster despite limited experience.
On the other hand, it is interesting to see that J.J. Watt will not be on the call alongside his CBS partner, Ian Eagle. Last year’s Netflix game served as a test run for the pair, which was followed by CBS promoting Watt from the studio to the No. 2 booth. Burleson will remain in the third seat while Ryan, who stopped calling games for CBS last year, will replace Watt.
Given Watt’s long-standing reticence to deal with extensive travel, he may have declined Netflix’s offer now that he is a full-time employee at CBS.
Keep an eye out for Netflix announcing the studio teams. Following an All-Star cast in 2024, it has been reported that networks are lukewarm on collaborating with streamers who have talent. Just look at YouTube, which went to FanDuel’s Kay Adams and first-timers Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Derek Carr, and Tyrann Mathieu for their NFL broadcast in Week 1.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.