Drew Brees discusses potential return to broadcasting

Saints legendary quarterback Drew Brees would welcome a return to broadcasting if such an opportunity arose.

"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, per Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing.

Brees retired from playing after the 2020 NFL season, and he spent the 2021 college and pro campaigns serving as an analyst for Notre Dame Fighting Irish football games and for NBC "Football Night in America" broadcasts. As Tobias Bass and Richard Deitsch of The Athletic shared earlier this week, Brees' work as an in-game analyst for a playoff game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders in January 2022 was widely criticized.

In June 2022, then-NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said Brees left the network for family reasons. However, Brees hinted that he wasn't entirely finished as a broadcaster. More recently, ESPN's Joe Buck told Deitsch on an episode of the "Sports Media with Richard Deitsch" podcast that he thinks "Brees got a raw deal" with NBC and deserves "another chance" in the industry.  

"I love to watch the game, I love to analyze the game," Brees added, according to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. "And that'll never leave. ... You've got to feed the flame somehow. So for me, I worked for NBC for a year, and honestly, I had such a good time. It was awesome, the only problem was the travel schedule. ... I love the game and I would love to broadcast NFL games at some point."

It's unclear if any of the NFL's main media partners are interested in Brees ahead of the 2024 season. Fox is relegating Greg Olsen to its No. 2 announcing team to make way for Tom Brady. J.J. Watt is on track to join a new-look "The NFL Today" program on CBS. Jason Kelce is heading to ESPN for "Monday Night Football" programming duties.

On Monday, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio suggested that Brees could "get a mid-level spot at CBS or Fox and work his way up the ladder" if he accepted the compensation associated with such a gig.