While fans weren’t impressed with Drew Brees’ brief broadcasting stint on NBC, the former New Orleans Saints quarterback isn’t ready to hang up the microphone just yet.
Last week, Joe Buck voiced his frustration that Brees received unfair treatment during his short stint as a broadcaster. Buck compared Brees’s pressure to Tom Brady’s, implying Brees deserved a longer shot, especially with a multiyear contract in tow.
And whether you agree with Buck’s assessment that Brees got a raw deal or not, it seems Brees himself isn’t ready to give up on broadcasting entirely.
“The thing that I wanted to do most that I think I could bring the most value in was broadcasting NFL games, and it was the thing I had the least opportunity to do,” Brees said during the announcement that he would be inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 2024.
“I would love to broadcast NFL games at some point again.
I think I could be the best at it”
– Drew Brees pic.twitter.com/kRwax5MJc0
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) May 30, 2024
Brees signed a multiyear contract with NBC before completing his playing career. There were high expectations for Brees at NBC, with the belief that he could eventually succeed Cris Collinsworth in the network’s Sunday Night Football booth. Instead, Brees’s tenure lasted just one season after NBC appeared to sour on the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback when he failed to impress during his lone playoff assignment.
NBC ultimately parted ways with Brees and recommitted to Collinsworth as its lead analyst.
But that doesn’t mean Brees has given up hope. He remains confident that, with the right platform, he can excel as an NFL broadcaster.
“I was able to do a little bit of college at Notre Dame,” he continued. “Just two NFL games broadcasting. They were eight weeks apart, and then the studio stuff, right? But man, I love the game and I would love to broadcast NFL games at some point again. I think I could be the best at it.”
It remains to be seen if a network will be willing to give Brees another crack at it. And if they do, Brees will likely need the proper investment and not look for instant gratification. With NFL rights expanding to numerous different platforms, it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility that we see Brees in a broadcast booth sooner rather than later.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.