Drew Brees has a post-retirement deal with NBC for work on Notre Dame games and in the NFL studioGETTY IMAGES
Saints QB Drew Brees reportedly will now retire, given that the team’s season is over and he has a post-retirement deal in place with NBC, but what “remains up in the air is whether he will get an NFL game in 2021,” according to Richard Deitsch of THE ATHLETIC. Brees will “work as a game analyst for Notre Dame football and in the studio” for “FNIA” once he hangs up his cleats, but Deitsch predicts Brees “will work as a game analyst at least once next season” on “SNF.” That comes after NBC “found some reps for Tony Dungy” in the Sunday night booth this season (THEATHLETIC.com, 1/19). In South Bend, Tyler James notes Dungy served as the game analyst for Notre Dame football on NBC this past season, and his work with play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico “seemed to be well-received by Notre Dame fans.” That could “impact NBC Sports’ plan for Brees.” NBC is scheduled to kick off the '21 season with Notre Dame’s home opener on Sept. 11 against Toledo, while Brees’ alma mater, Purdue, is scheduled to visit Notre Dame the following week (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 1/19).
OPTION ROUTE: WFAN-AM’s Boomer Esiason said Brees would not be in a position to replace Cris Collinsworth in the "SNF" booth, as Collinsworth still “very much has got his fastball going, and he’s still a premiere analyst.” But WFAN-AM’s Gregg Giannotti said if NBC’s Al Michaels “gets tired” of Collinsworth, “then that’s it” (“Boomer and Gio,” CBSSN, 1/18). ESPN’s Hannah Storm said Brees in recent years has “really taken his time and sat back and assessed his future.” ESPN’s Chris Mortensen noted it has “always been the assumption that this was Drew’s last season,” and when “he signed the contract with NBC, that pushed that even more to the forefront” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 1/18).
