Drew Brees is confident in his next career after football, but should he be?

Being an NFL announcer is a pretty sweet gig. Networks and streamers have driven up the price of top talent in recent years, resulting in record salaries and an announcer merry-go-round as the likes of Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Al Michaels and more have switched employers.

Drew Brees is one of the best quarterbacks of his generation, and with his intelligent, affable persona, most people around the league expected him to seamlessly slide into a media role when his career came to an end. Brees was eagerly snatched up by NBC upon his retirement, but the reviews of his work as an analyst and an announcer were mostly negative, with common complaints being that he didn't really let his personality show and he seemed unwilling to criticize players.

NBC reportedly "soured" on Brees, and he and the company parted ways after just one year together. This was in 2022, and in the time since, Brees has presumably been enjoying life while coaching his son's youth football team.

Now, Brees is ready to return to the booth, and he's made it clear that he's not looking to be a studio analyst again. He wants to call games, something he only had the opportunity to do twice in his year at NBC.

Drew Brees wants to be an NFL announcer again. Should a network hire him?

Hiring Brees would be a fascinating test case for one of the NFL's broadcasting partners. On the one hand, he didn't get rave reviews for his work the first time around, and he came under fire for some well-intentioned but unfortunately-phrased comments about players kneeling during the national anthem. Brees is known for being one of the good guys in the NFL though, so hopefully that doesn't preclude him from getting another chance. And as Brees himself said about his previous opportunity, he only had the chance to announce two games. It takes time to build a rapport in the booth and feel the rhythms of the game from high above the field.

Many all-time great players have struggled with that transition, and though there's no shame in it, there are so few of these spots available that networks aren't willing to give former players a long leash to learn on the job. It was only five years ago that Jason Witten left the Monday Night Football booth after just one season, and though he did it under the pretext of un-retiring to play for the Cowboys again, the fact that his performance as an announcer was almost universally panned made it clear that it was the right move.

Brees is one of the most cerebral players to ever play the game, but having the ability to pick apart a defense doesn't always translate into being an entertaining person to listen to and watch on TV. Peyton and Eli Manning have carved out a significant niche for themselves with the Manningcast, while Tony Romo, though still the lead color analyst on CBS, has faced a bit of backlash the past couple of seasons after his initial honeymoon phase wore off. We'll have to wait and see if Tom Brady can continue his winning ways as part of Fox's No. 1 team with Kevin Burkhardt this fall.

Brady's budding announcing career is precisely the reason why it may be difficult for Brees to get back in the booth, as Brady's hire forced Greg Olsen off the lead team. Olsen, though he was a very good NFL player, doesn't have the same name recognition or on-field bona fides as Brady or Brees, but fans loved his work as an announcer for the way he could explain complex concepts in an understandable way. Olsen said recently that he'll still be announcing for Fox, at least for now, which means that's another spot taken up in an already crowded field.

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression, and if Brees were to get another shot, he'd really (to borrow a term from baseball) have to knock it out of the park. He did spend his entire career silencing doubters, though, who claimed he was too short or lacked the arm strength to be an elite quarterback, and he has the backing of Joe Buck, who recently appeared on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch and said, "I think Drew Brees got a raw deal. 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."

Time will tell if one of the networks takes Brees up on his offer. His tweet only included being interested in a call from networks that air the primetime games, but it's doubtful that he can land one of those top gigs (which are already filled anyway) after the way his one year in the booth went. If Brees is willing to start lower on the ladder and get some reps by announcing the 1 p.m. Panthers-Titans games of the world, though, it could be a good gamble for CBS or Fox and a smart move from a quarterback that was always known for his brain.