Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Former Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez is officially out at Fox Sports as he faces felony charges following a bizarre fight in Indianapolis last month. “We can confirm that Mark Sanchez is no longer with the network,”a Fox Sports spokesperson told The Inquirer. “There will be no further comment at this time.” Fox is turning to Super Bowl champ Drew Brees to replace Sanchez, announcing Friday the former New Orleans Saints quarterback is joining the network as a color analyst alongside play-by-play announcer Adam Amin and sideline reporter Kristina Pink. Brees’ first game will be in Week 11 on Nov. 16, though Fox hasn’t announced which game he’ll call. The Eagles have at least four remaining games scheduled on Fox, but two — Eagles-Cowboys in Week 12 and Eagles-Bills in Week 17 — are set to feature Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. It’s a second chance for Brees, who joined NBC in 2021 and appeared to be the network’s replacement for color analyst Cris Collinsworth. But Brees quietly left the network after just once season after a wild card game he called was widely criticized by fans and sports media pundits, and NBC resigned Collinsworth to a long-term deal. As for Sanchez, the former quarterback is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 11 to face accusations he drunkenly attacked and injured a delivery driver in Indianapolis Oct. 4 ahead of calling an NFL game. Sanchez was stabbed and pepper sprayed during the fight by the driver, Perry Tole, 69, according to police. “We are literally talking about people fighting over a parking space and-or a dispute about where people are parking, and it resulted in someone receiving just incredibly significant injures,” Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears told reporters a few days after the incident. Tole is also suing Sanchez and Fox Sports, claiming the fight left him with “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function” and other injuries. Sanchez spent two of his eight NFL seasons in Philadelphia, where he started 10 games for the Eagles and posted a mediocre 86.6 QB rating.
