Drew Brees was a certified legend on the field, a Super Bowl champion, and a future Hall of Famer who shattered records for the New Orleans Saints. His first shot at broadcasting, however, was a different story. After a rocky one-year stint with NBC, Brees is getting a second chance to prove he belongs in the booth, but this time, he is starting from a much different position.
Drew Brees Signs Multi-Year Contract with Fox
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Brees has signed a multi-year contract with Fox to become an NFL game commentator. The move places him on the network’s third team, where he will replace Mark Sanchez and join play-by-play announcer Adam Amin in the booth.
While the exact terms of the deal have not been released, his position as the third analyst behind Tom Brady and Greg Olsen suggests the contract is for significantly less money than he might have earned a few years ago. Marchand explained that the legendary quarterback likely missed out on a much larger payday when his broadcasting stock was higher.
“Drew Brees could easily be making $20 million per year. If he had played one more year, he probably would have ended up at Amazon Prime Video, because I think maybe Al Michaels would have been more into him at that point,” explained Marchand. “I think after Brees struggled at NBC, Michaels was not that into having him as his partner. But now, he’s the number three at Fox, but with a chance to grow, so credit to him for going after it, if that’s what he wants to do.”
Marchand’s comments allude to Amazon Prime Video taking over the broadcast rights for Thursday Night Football the year after Brees’s short run at NBC. He believes that if Brees had either performed better as an analyst or played one more season with the Saints, he could have landed the coveted job alongside play-by-play icon Al Michaels. That hypothetical final season would have been with a Saints team that, according to PFSN’s Defense Impact metric, currently ranks 22nd in the league.
Instead of hiring Brees, Amazon chose Kirk Herbstreit to partner with Michaels for their weekly TNF stream. Had Brees secured that role, Marchand speculated his salary could have reached $20 million or more per season. Now, joining the C-team at Fox, his first contract with the network is not expected to come anywhere close to that figure.