Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce may be retired from the NFL, but he is still very much a star in the league.
Kelce, who spent his entire 13-year career with the Eagles, only just retired at the end of last season. Considered one of the greatest centers in NFL history, Kelce has already figured out how to stay part of the football world. And it’s a feat made a little easier thanks to dedicated Birds fans popping up everywhere and anywhere.
Kelce joined ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Countdown’ pregame show, making his debut on September 9. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from the official account of his podcast ‘New Heights,’ Kelce can be seen hugging an Eagles fan and signing his jersey. It’s ironic since the Monday Night Football game was between the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers.
Birds fans are everywhere 🦅💚 pic.twitter.com/cdqMrPw41Q
— New Heights (@newheightshow) September 10, 2024
Kelce co-hosts the podcast with his brother Travis – star tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs and infamous boyfriend of global superstar Taylor Swift – which has become a commercial success.
In addition to the sweet moment with a fan, Kelce was also trending on social media for another iconic moment, albeit a funny one.
Kelce admitted during the show that he forgot his travel bag and had to buy a button-up shirt at the mall.
During the intros, anchor Scott Van Pelt introduced Marcus Spears and Ryan Clark, as well as Kelce.
“Jason Kelce is wearing a shirt he got at the mall because he left his travel bag in the truck,” he said cheekily, to which Kelce admitted the white shirt “fits my belly now, I’ve lost a little bit of weight.
Kelce did admit that the shirt was “struggling” in the chest area.
The clip went viral on ESPN’s social media accounts and got the attention of his brother, Travis.
”Surprised he bought a new one and didn’t just go shirtless,” Travis Kelce said on X.
Surprised he bought a new one and didn’t just go shirtless https://t.co/7HiTQm8uJZ
— Travis Kelce (@tkelce) September 9, 2024
Jason is no stranger to shirtless moments. He infamously took off his shirt to celebrate Travis’ touchdown during a playoff game earlier this year against the Buffalo Bills.
Travis did compliment his brother’s broadcast debut, reposting from ‘New Heights’ on X and commenting: “What a natural!!”
Jason Kelce, who retired earlier this year, won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles. He has shot to stardom in recent months. Travis still plays for the Chiefs, who are looking to win their third straight Super Bowl this season.
The Kelce brothers have become some of the most recognizable siblings in professional sports, for a combination of reasons from Travis dating Swift to pure stories about Jason and his wife Kylie.
This summer, Jason and Travis signed a three-year, $100 million deal with Amazon’s Wondery, which will now have exclusive ad sales and distribution rights to ‘New Heights.’ Wondery has global distribution rights to all audio and video episodes of the weekly podcast, “including the show’s back catalog of all content, as well as rights to create international audio adaptations of the podcast. Wondery has exclusive rights to monetize and distribute audio and video podcast episodes,” according to Variety.
