Philadelphia Eagles' freshly retired center Jason Kelce won't be suiting up for gamedays anymore, but he will still be around the NFL.
Earlier this month, Kelce landed a broadcasting gig with ESPN's “Monday Night Football” pregame show for the upcoming season, which means he's going to be covering every team -- including the one he hates the most.
Yes, the Dallas Cowboys.
How is he going to handle covering them following a 13-year rivalry?
He plans to remain objective.
"Oh, I have no bias,” Kelce said on the New Heights podcast. “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…”
Kelce proceeded to recall a recent encounter he had, making fun of a Dallas fan.
“I was at a charity golf outing," Kelce continued, "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?”
And that's the running joke about Cowboys fans, they're everywhere because they're rarely from Dallas (or even Texas) and have no emotional connection to the team.
Kelce will be on TV for two Cowboys home games on "Monday Night Football," starting in Week 11 against the Houston Texans and then again in Week 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
That's deep into the 2024 season before we get to see if Kelce can keep his Dallas hatred aside, but it will be worth the wait.
“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 after first landing the ESPN job. “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.”
Good luck with that, Kelce!
