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Drew Brees Entered the ESPN Ecosystem With the Perfect Take

Stephen Douglas

Drew Brees said something on 'First Take' that was then debated the next day on 'Get Up.'
Drew Brees said something on 'First Take' that was then debated the next day on 'Get Up.' / @GetUpESP
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Drew Brees made his First Take debut on Tuesday. Appearing via video call, it doesn't seem like he's auditioning to replace Molly Qerim, but he still managed to make his presence felt by giving a take that made headlines and inspired segments on other ESPN shows.

It was everything ESPN could have hoped for.

Brees told Stephen A. Smith that he couldn't stand watching the Eagles' offense, calling the undefeated defending Super Bowl champion's offense "boring."

It was perfect in its safeness. He took a shot at a popular and successful team in a way that isn't controversial, but can still offend. He said something that can't be easily proven or disproven, but people will still want to argue because even if the Eagles' offense is boring, they're winning so how can you criticize them?

Sports Illustrated, CBS, Yahoo!, Awful Announcing, Bleacher Report and The Daily Mail were all among the outlets that picked up the easily digestible content.

But most importantly, it gave other ESPN shows something to talk about while reminding viewers that Brees is now a member of the ESPN family. Jeff Saturday responded to Brees's comments not once, but twice on the same episode of Get Up the next morning.

Get Up then revisited Brees's comments in the second hour of the show with Saturday again defending the Eagles and complaining about how the quarterback beat his Colts in the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Adam Schefter shared the the original Brees clip on his X account around the same time.

Vertical integration for takes. ESPN and Brees caught ligthning in a bottle in his debut. Now he faces the pressure of doing it agian and if he can't someone will probably call him boring.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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