Garrett to take Brees’ spot at NBC
FORMER Cowboys coach Jason Garrett will replace Drew Brees on NBC’s NFL pregame show, “Football Night in America,” The Post has learned.
Garrett could still also succeed Brees as NBC’s Notre Dame game analyst, but a final decision has not been made there, according to sources.
Garrett, 56, was the Giants’ offensive coordinator for more than a year before being fired by then-head coach Joe Judge early last season. Garrett has been calling USFL games for NBC this spring with Jac Collinsworth. Collinsworth, a Notre Dame graduate and the son of Cris Collinsworth, is a candidate for the play-by-play position.
Mike Tirico, who called the Fighting Irish last year, is being promoted to “Sunday Night Football” in place of Al Michaels. Michaels has since gone on to become the voice of Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” package, which begins in the fall.
Last month, The Post reported that Brees and NBC were done after one year. Immediately after the story, Brees, in a tweet, semidenied the report, saying his future was in limbo and, among other things, he might go play football or pickleball instead.
In an interview with the Associated Press this week, NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua confirmed The Post’s initial report that Brees would no longer work at NBC.
Brees may take the year off, but he could have an opportunity at Fox Sports to be its No. 2 game analyst, which includes two playoff games next season, however Fox Sports does not have any plans to break the bank for Brees.
Fox has already signed Tom Brady to a 10-year, $375 million deal to be its lead game analyst after he retires from playing. Greg Olsen is its No. 1 game analyst for at least this year, which will conclude with Fox having the Super Bowl.
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Richard Sherman had a tryout to be a Fox Sports game analyst, according to sources. He is not in the running for the No. 2 job. Sherman is widely expected to be a studio analyst with Amazon. If he ends up doing well there, Fox might ask him to do a game or two and both sides would be able to see if the relationship could grow. … WFAN has considered former reliever Jeff Nelson to call a Yankees game or two as a play-by-player in place of John Sterling, according to sources. It’s not yet decided if he will actually get a game or not. With Sterling set to miss 25-30 road games in the second half, Justin Shackil, Rickie Ricardo and likely Ryan Ruocco are going to call some games. Analyst Suzyn Waldman has also been considered for a game or two.
On Thursday, FAN announced that Shackil will call the Toronto series next weekend (June 17-19), while Ricardo will move over from the Spanish broadcast to fill in for Sterling in Tampa for the three-game series June 20-22.