Jason Kelce joining ESPN Monday Night Football crew

The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reports Monday that former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jason Kelce is slated to join ESPN’s broadcast crew. Amazon, NBC and CBS were also interested in acquiring Kelce as a part of their football broadcast coverage ahead of the 2024-2025 football season following his retirement.

Kelce retired from a lengthy NFL career following the 2023-2024 season, getting his media career started with his brother Travis Kelce as a co-host to the podcast New Heights in September of 2022. But he is now expected to take his game to another level, planning to join ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown crew this upcoming season.

During his playing career, Kelce became one of the most decorated offensive linemen of the generation, named a First-Team All-Pro six times and a Pro Bowler seven times in his 13-year NFL career. He also helped lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl LIII win over the New England Patriots.

But throughout his career, he’s also become one of the most beloved players across the NFL. Highlighted by the popularity of his podcast and off-the-field antics like appearances at WrestleMania and his work alongside his Eagles teammates on a Christmas album titled A Philly Special Christmas.

Kelce was also featured in a popular documentary during the 2022 NFL season titled Kelce that detailed his life on and off the field and was released on Amazon Prime Video.

Marchand first reported about ESPN’s interest in Kelce on March 27, revealing that ESPN was aggressively pursuing Kelce as they looked to re-work their Monday Night Football pregame show with Scott Van Pelt at the helm.

“ESPN is planning another Monday Night Football pregame shake-up, according to executives with knowledge of the network’s plans,” Marchand wrote in March. “A year after a complete makeover of the set under the stewardship of Scott Van Pelt, Robert Griffin III’s spot is in jeopardy, while the network is aggressively pursuing retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce for Monday nights.”

The aggressiveness of the worldwide leader clearly worked as Kelce is now expected to be a part of Disney’s upfronts in two weeks. The news comes on the heels of ESPN also adding former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to their roster. The former Patriots coach will appear on The Pat McAfee Show every Monday during the NFL season and be a semi-regular guest on the Manningcast for Monday Night Football.