Earlier this offseason, Jason Kelce retired from the NFL and turned his full attention to the burgeoning media career he kickstarted during the final years of his career. In his biggest move since retiring, Kelce joined ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show.
This news led some fans, and even Kelce’s brother Travis, to question if Jason could remain unbiased, particularly in regards to the rivals of Kelce’s longtime team, the Philadelphia Eagles, including but not limited to the Dallas Cowboys.
Kelce spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Eagles after being drafted by the organization in the sixth round of the 2011 draft. As NFC East rivals, Kelce’s Eagles and the Cowboys squared off many times over those 13 seasons, so it’s a natural question to ask if Kelce, in his new role on “Monday Night Countdown” would be able to set aside his distaste for Dallas on national television.
“Oh, I have no bias,” Kelce said on his and Travis’ “New Heights” podcast [h/t Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann]. “I just don’t like them. But I’m gonna give them their props. There’s a rivalry, but the reality is, even though I hate the Cowboys’ fanbase… I can set aside my differences as a player and the competition…”
Jason even poked fun at an interaction he had at a charity golf event in which he met a young Cowboys fan.
“I was at a charity golf outing, and there was a kid, and he was like, ‘Hey, I’m a Cowboys fan.’ I was like, ‘Oh, are you from Dallas?’ And he said, ‘No, I’m from Philadelphia.’ Are you a Lakers and a Yankees fan, too? Like, what are we doing? We’re just picking whatever team we want; that’s where we’re at?” Kelce recounted before Travis interjected and reminded his older brother that Jason became a Pittsburgh Steelers fan when their hometown Cleveland Browns left for Baltimore in the 1990s.
While the Philadelphia Eagles fielded many different players, employed several different head coaches, and tried to find the perfect fit at the quarterback position over the years, Jason Kelce remained. The All-Pro center was remarkably durable and reliable, playing 193 total and 156 consecutive games for the Eagles. His string of 150+ consecutive starts from 2014 to 2023 is a franchise record.
While Kelce will still have millions of eyes on him every week, now, it’s not about how Kelce fares in the trenches; it’s about whether he can entertain and inform “Monday Night Football” audiences. And remaining unbiased or at least not letting his personal feelings get in the way of honest analysis will be key to Kelce’s success on ESPN.
Earlier this month, Kelce said he was confident he could remove bias from his analysis.
“I will, of course, be biased in who I’m rooting for, but in my analysis, I think I’ll definitely be able to be unbiased,” Kelce said. “I think I kind of always am, even when I was a player, I was always trying to give my honest perspective and point of view, and I don’t think that changes now. I’m just going to have more opportunities to voice that.
Kelce did admit, however, that he did not know what he was going to wear when on TV this season.
“It’s going to be a good time. We’re going to be at the games traveling around. I still don’t know what I’m wearing, so I guess we’ll find out,” Kelce said. “I don’t mind wearing a suit if that’s what it calls. I think there’s a time to be relaxed and, you know, be off the cuff, but there’s also a time, I think, to be a little bit more buttoned up. Yeah, we’ll see. We haven’t really talked too much about it.”
Kelce’s wardrobe will be apparent Week 1 when the New York Jets visit the San Francisco 49ers for “Monday Night Football,” and Kelce’s biases will be on display Week 2 when the Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons on MNF. The Cowboys are set for two MNF games this season; in Week 11 vs. the Houston Texans and in Week 14 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.
