Throughout the spring, it was reported that former Saints quarterback Drew Brees would not return to NBC for a second year as a studio analyst. NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua made that official, telling the Associated Press that he will no longer be a part of the network’s NFL and Notre Dame football coverage.
“The unbelievable busyness of an NFL career and then really not taking a break at all and launching right in with us with both Notre Dame football and the NFL, it was certainly an around-the-clock assignment,” Bevacqua said. “This was definitely a lifestyle choice for him, which is totally understandable.”
Brees signed a multi-year deal with the network after retiring from the NFL following the 2020 season with the Saints. He served as an analyst for Notre Dame games, and in the studio for Football Night in America, NBC’s lead-in for Sunday Night Football. He also called a playoff game between the Raiders and Bengals alongside Mike Tirico, to very mixed reviews.
In May, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Brees “preferred doing games” over studio work, but that the network “soured on Brees’s potential after originally believing he could develop into the heir apparent to Cris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football games.”
Bevacqua made sure to praise Brees’s work in his statement.
“It was a new role and everyone has a learning curve. I think he did an unbelievable job with Notre Dame and improved every week,” he said. “He was always unbelievably prepared, curious about how things were handled and the work that went into it.”
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As the reports emerged, Brees himself added to the uncertainty. On May 15, he tweeted, “Despite speculation from media about my future this fall, I’m currently undecided. I may work for NBC, I may play football again, I may focus on business and philanthropy, I may train for the pickleball tour, senior golf tour, coach my kids or all of the above. I’ll let you know.”
A day after his tweet, Saints coach Dennis Allen said that the mention of a possible NFL return was likely “made in jest,” and that he hadn’t had discussions with Brees on a possible return.
Marchand previously reported that Fox and Amazon could look into bringing in Brees as both networks look to build out their teams for NFL coverage. However, based on Bevacqua’s comments, it seems more likely that the future Hall of Famer spends the fall with his family.
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