Becoming a future member of the ESPN family is a “full circle” moment for newly retired Eagles center Jason Kelce.
Two days after reports emerged the 36-year-old Kelce would be joining the Worldwide Leader as he embarks on a sports media career, the seven-time Pro Bowler elaborated Wednesday on how he reached his decision amid interest from other networks.
“Nothing has been officially inked yet or announced yet but, obviously, there’s been a lot of reports out there about me going to ESPN and I think time will kind of take care of that but it’s a tremendous honor to even be considered to potentially work there,” Kelce said on the latest installment of the “New Heights” podcast he co-hosts with his younger brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Kelce, who officially called it a career in March after 13 seasons in Philadelphia, shared how ESPN “was everything” to the siblings growing up.
“We were glued to the TV each and every day, so the fact that I may potentially, probably will be working there is pretty darn cool,” Jason said.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported Monday that Kelce is joining the weekly “Monday Night Football” pregame show.
The program features analysts Ryan Clark and Marcus Spears and is hosted by Scott Van Pelt.
The publication reported in March that ESPN was pursuing Kelce, who also intrigued NBC, CBS and Amazon Prime Video.
Travis, who is also segueing into media as the host of Amazon’s “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity,” noted how “cool” it is “to see come full circle” for his brother.
“I did my due diligence, you want to make sure you’re really looking at things, talking to people that are knowledgeable in the industry — neither one of us have ever done something like this. Throughout the whole process, meeting and talking to everyone over at ESPN, it became apparent that it was really the right fit and at the end of the day, something that I’m really, really looking forward to this next phase,” Jason said.
“… I know to some degree who I’m working with and think very, very highly of all of them, I’m excited to learn. I know a lot about football but not a lot about this world, so, that’s just another avenue to continue to expand your knowledge, create relationships, cause that’s what this business is all about, that’s what every business is all about, it’s always about the people you interact with, so, really excited.”
A former sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati, Kelce spent his entire NFL career with the Eagles, winning one Super Bowl at the end of the 2017 season.
The future Hall of Famer was named First-Team All-Pro six times, playing in a total of 193 regular-season games throughout his career.
