NFL, Irish analyst Brees leaves NBC

Drew Brees is officially done at NBC Sports after one year.

NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a phone interview with Associated Press that Brees will not be a part of the network’s NFL and Notre Dame coverage this year. The New York Post reported last month that the former quarterback would not be coming back as a studio or game analyst.

Following that report, Brees took to social media and said he had not decided his future.

Bevacqua said conversations with Brees have centered around him wanting to spend more time with family.

“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 multiyear contract with NBC in 2020, before he completed a 20-year NFL career with the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints as the record holder in passing yards and touchdowns. He was an analyst for Notre Dame games with Mike Tirico and was in the studio most Sundays for “Football Night in America.” Brees and Tirico called the wild card round game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals where Brees noticeably struggled.

Many thought Brees would be the heir apparent to Cris Collinsworth as the analyst on “Sunday Night Football,” but Collinsworth will remain in that role as Tirico moves into the playby-play spot following Al Michaels’ move to Amazon Prime Video for “Thursday Night Football.”