Longtime sports broadcaster Joe Buck believes Drew Brees didn’t have enough time to prove himself as an announcer.
Buck shared this view on The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch’s “Sports Media” podcast this week, where they also discussed the high expectations for Tom Brady as he joins Kevin Burkhardt in Fox Sports’ top NFL booth.
“I think Drew Brees got a raw deal,” Buck said. “And if there’s anybody who was ever created in a computer to be a top analyst at a network, I think it’s Drew Brees and I would love to see him get another chance at that.
“He got one game, and he was working with a new crew and a new play-by-play guy and everybody expects brilliance. You make one comment, and it gets its own life on social media. It’s just ridiculous.”
Brees worked for NBC during the 2021 football season as a color commentator for Notre Dame games and as a studio analyst for “Sunday Night Football” alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico. During that season, he also called the Cincinnati Bengals-Las Vegas Raiders playoff game for NBC, a performance that faced some public criticism.
NBC and Brees mutually decided to part ways shortly after that season. While the common narrative suggested NBC was dissatisfied with Brees’ playoff calling performance, the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback stated that he left NBC for family reasons.
(Photo of Drew Brees: Jeff Kravitz / Getty Images)
