Last month, a rumor popped up that Drew Brees‘ time with NBC was coming to an end after one season. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Brees, who the network tabbed as a potential replacement for Cris Collinsworth on its Sunday Night Football broadcasts when he agreed to join at the conclusion of his football career, would not return due to a mutual parting of ways.
Brees took to Twitter in the aftermath of that report and said that he was undecided about what his future would hold. But on Wednesday morning, Joe Reedy of the Associated Press received confirmation from NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua that Brees’ time with the network as an NFL analyst and Notre Dame football color commentator is over.
“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 told the AP. “This was definitely a lifestyle choice for him, which is totally understandable.”
Bevacqua told the AP that the network won’t prevent Brees from pursuing another opportunity in broadcasting despite the fact that he is under contract. Despite that, the expectation is that Brees will spend this year at home with his family.