ESPN may soon have a big opening to fill on its top NFL broadcast, and Drew Brees has already let the network know he wants in.
With Troy Aikman’s contract set to expire after Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, Brees told Front Office Sports that he would, “of course,” be interested in taking over the “Monday Night Football” booth alongside Joe Buck.
“At the end of the day, I aspire to be the best at what I’m pursuing. I love broadcasting, and I love my team. And I love being able to broadcast games every week,” Brees told Front Office Sports’ Baker Machado.
He pointed to this week’s Vikings-Packers matchup as the kind of assignment he enjoys most, saying, “For example, this week, we’re broadcasting Vikings-Packers. The Packers are one of the most explosive offenses in football right now.
I love the fact that I’ll get a chance to dive into watching [Packers QB] Jordan Love, [coach] Matt LaFleur, and that whole offense. Look, they struggled early on in the season.
Now they’ve kind of turned the corner. The Vikings are reeling a little bit.
"Trying to figure it out on offense. We get to dive in and identify what the solutions could be.
The [Vikings] defense is lights out. What a great matchup that’s going to be.
I get to be in the shoes of both. Again, that’s what I love every week is the opportunity to talk about it, communicate it.
But we’re all aspiring to be the best that we can be at it.”
Brees’ interest in ESPN comes after a rocky first run in television with NBC, when his on-air work drew heavy criticism and he was seen as NBC’s answer to Tony Romo. But his recent comments sound like a broadcaster who has settled into the job and actually enjoys the grind of breaking down football.
That growth could matter if ESPN does need a new analyst for its premier NFL package. Brees has made it clear he believes he’s better suited for game broadcasting now than he was when he first retired.
“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," Brees told"Front Office Sports Today" in September 2024. "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 ... 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.”
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