Jason Kelce is officially joining ESPN as an analyst, the network announced on Tuesday.
It’s a multi-year agreement for Kelce, who retired in March after 13 years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. He will join Monday Night Countdown in the buildup to Monday Night Football during the 2024 season, and the Super Wild Card and Divisional Round playoff games.
Kelce, 36, will also join ESPN’s Super Bowl studio coverage, which will include Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles when the network airs the game.
“Turns out, it was a short retirement! I’m excited to join ESPN, and particularly the Monday Night Countdown team,” Kelce said in a statement. “ESPN was a consistent presence in our household growing up and the network helped shape who I am and my love of all sports. To now appear on that same screen is a full circle moment. And, I mean it’s freaking Monday Night Football! and I’m ready for some football.”
Kelce may have settled on ESPN, but they weren’t his only option. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that he had numerous suitors, including NBC and CBS. Amazon was apparently also interested, which makes sense since Kelce has a pre-existing relationship with them.
The six-time NFL All-Pro and Super Bowl LII champion has earned a reputation for being charming, relatable and honest, both on camera and off. That was always easy for Eagles fans to spot, but the team’s two Super Bowl runs in 2017 and 2022 fully brought Kelce into the national spotlight. He and his wife Kylie also opened up their lives in 2022 for the Amazon documentary “Kelce.” Instead, the cameras caught the Eagles’ amazing journey to the Super Bowl, and showed Kelce to be the heart and soul of the team.
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This new gig isn’t Kelce’s first foray into the world of NFL-related media. He already co-hosts the enormously popular podcast “New Heights” alongside his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who has had a busy offseason himself off the field.
Travis Kelce landed his first major acting role with a part in a new Ryan Murphy horror drama show “Grotesquerie,” which will premiere on FX in the fall. He will also host “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity” for Amazon’s Prime Video.
