Jason Kelce Responds to Reports He Will Be Joining ESPN

In the latest episode of "New Heights," the former Eagles center discussed his next role.
Jason Kelce
Jason Kelce / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday, reports emerged that ESPN had won the Jason Kelce sweepstakes. The Athletic's Andrew Marchand reported the Worldwide Leader was to ink the former Philadelphia Eagles center to a deal that would add him to the Monday Night Countdown desk, the network's pregame show for Monday Night Football. On Wednesday, Kelce responded.

Sitting virtually across from his brother Travis on their latest episode of New Heights, Kelce made sure to say right off the bat that these reports are not yet set in stone. He has not put any pen to paper. With that out of the way the former All-Pro waxed poetic about how much of an honor it would be to work for ESPN, the very same network that he and Travis watched every single day as burgeoning sports junkies when they were young.

"Nothing's been offically inked yet or announced yet, but obviously there's been a lot of reports out there about me going to ESPN," Kelce said. "I think time will take care of that. But it's a tremendous honor to be considered to potentially work there. That network was everything Travis and I watched growing up.

"We talk about it all the time. We had Rich Eisen on here last year on the show. We talk about all these guys we grew up watching. We lived watching ESPN. SportsCenter, before phones, that was the only way to get all the coverage. We were glued to the TV each and every day. The fact that I may, potentially, probably, will be working there is pretty darn cool, man."

Between these comments and the previous reports it is all but certain Kelce will be on our televisions next fall, and he's clearly very excited about it. As are we all.

Kelce's magnetic personality is going to make him a quick television star, and the sky is the limit if he learns how to leverage his extensive football knowledge into engaging monologues for the audience. He probably won't be asked to do a ton on Monday Night Countdown, which is just as much about recapping the previous weekend's action as it is analyzing the game ahead.

But there will be plentiful opportunities for Kelce to flex some broadcasting muscle by doing the same thing that made New Heights popular: be a large, gregarious man who loves the game of football. And he also happens to be the brother of Taylor Swift's boo.

It will be fascinating to watch his career unfold. Until then, ESPN should rest easy knowing they're likely landing someone who appreciates what it means to work there.


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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.