Future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, who spent a year with NBC, has made it clear that he’d like to get back into broadcasting. A recent appearance on ESPN reportedly isn’t a precursor to his second TV gig.
Via Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports.com, Brees’s visit to the Monday Night Countdown set doesn’t mean he’s being “hired full-time” by ESPN, and it wasn’t an audition “for a bigger role.”
There’s enough wiggle room in those two statements to suggest Brees might show up from time to time, on a part-time basis. Still, Brees wants more than that; he wants to call games.
“I think I could be the absolute best at it, if given the opportunity,” Brees told Owen Poindexter of FrontOfficeSports.com in September. “I valued my time at NBC so much, for that year after I played, I spent most of that time in-studio on Sunday Night Football, having to work with some incredible people. . . . But I didn’t really get the chance to broadcast NFL games. And that’s what I feel like I’m most qualified to do. That’s what I feel like I’m most passionate about. And certainly where my knowledge base lies, right? Telling the story of the game, getting you inside the huddle, getting you inside the quarterback’s head, letting you know how we’re attacking this defense. . . . That to me is something I’d love to do down the road when the time is right.”
He could surely get one of the lower-level spots on at CBS or Fox, which would give him a chance to hone his skills and climb the ladder — like a freshman who shows up at No. 7 on the quarterback depth chart. But Brees might believe (not incorrectly) that he’s too accomplished as a player to accept a low rung on the broadcasting ladder.
If so, the problem becomes that not taking whatever he can get keeps him from showing what he’s got. Until he does, no one is going to hand him one of the few choice seats. Especially since all of them are filled.
The counter would be, if you love it, you jump on any chance you can get to do it. Even if it’s a Jaguars-Titans regional broadcast with the lowest-level play-by-play announcer and lowest-level production team at CBS.
Still, the fact that Brees showed up on ESPN the other night could be regarded as a toe in the water. Some live reps aimed at keeping himself in circulation, as he ponders whether and when to get back into broadcasting.
