Drew Brees has been waiting for another shot to call games since his failed stint as a game analyst for NBC his first year out of the NFL.
The future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback is reportedly getting that opportunity. Brees is joining Fox as an NFL analyst and could replace Mark Sanchez, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, who reported Wednesday that the 46-year-old Brees will begin his Fox career a week from Sunday.
Sanchez, who spent 10 seasons in the NFL as a quarterback, hasn’t called a game for the network in more than a month. While in Indianapolis to work a Week 5 game between the Colts and the Las Vegas Raiders, he allegedly confronted a truck driver, became aggressive and then was stabbed multiple times as a result. Sanchez, 38, currently faces multiple charges, most notably a Level 5 felony battery charge that, with conviction, carries a one-to-six-year sentence. Sanchez has officially pleaded not guilty.
Brees is expected to take Sanchez’s place next to play-by-play announcer Adam Amin in the Fox booth, according to The Athletic, which reported that, while the terms of Brees’ deal aren’t currently known, he’s set to call games through at least next season.
Brees was a second-act quarterback in the NFL. Although he made the Pro Bowl once with the then-San Diego Chargers, the brutal shoulder injury he suffered during the final game of the 2005 season put the longevity of his quarterbacking career in jeopardy.
He overcame that obstacle and became a league legend in New Orleans, where he delivered the Saints their first-ever Super Bowl victory and added 12 more Pro Bowl nods as well as a pair of NFL Offensive Player of the Year awards to his gold jacket résumé.
Brees is hoping for similar success during his second full-time job in the booth. While at NBC during the 2021 season, he served as an analyst for Notre Dame games with Mike Tirico. He also had a studio role most Sundays for “Football Night in America.”
Additionally, Brees and Tirico called a wild-card game between the Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals.
Brees and NBC parted ways after just one season. In the years since, Brees has made appearances on studio shows for Fox and ESPN, the latter of whom he agreed with earlier this fall to become a weekly contributor on popular debate show “First Take.” He’s also slated to join Netflix’s NFL Christmas Day broadcast as a game analyst this year.
But Brees’ new role with Fox will give him a more regular platform to show off his football acumen. And it will give Fox another big-name star to roll out during its NFL Sundays.