Jason Kelce is expanding his analyst role from the studio to the booth.
The ESPN analyst and former Philadelphia Eagles center will join play-by-play broadcaster Dave Pasch and game analyst Kurt Warner in what will be one of two NFL Network booths ESPN is set to announce for the upcoming season, according to a report by Josh Carpenter in Sports Business Journal. Kelce, of course, has been an analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown since his retirement from the league and hosts the popular podcast New Heights.
Earlier this week, a report surfaced indicating that Pasch and Warner would be expected to pair together in one of the NFL Network booths, with Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick forming the other team. That report mentioned the possibility of Kelce joining either team in the booth remained “fluid.” Now, it seems like a certainty.
Kelce will make his NFL Network debut alongside Pasch and Warner on Oct. 4 for a game between the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders in London. He’ll stay in London for Eagles-Jaguars on Oct. 11. The trio will then call the NFL’s first-ever Paris game between the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 25 and a to-be-determined Saturday Week 16 game on Dec. 26.
In all, that means the Pasch-Warner-Kelce triumvirate will call just over half of the seven games slated for NFL Network this season, while Wischusen and Riddick will take the remaining three; Texans-Jaguars on Oct. 18 from London, Bengals-Falcons on Nov. 8 from Madrid, and a second to-be-determined Week 16 game on Dec. 26.
Carpenter notes this will not be Kelce’s first time in an NFL booth. In 2023, he joined Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit in Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football booth for a game.
It’s unclear if these international duties will preclude Kelce from his normal Monday Night Countdown assignment. For instance, Kelce will be in London for Eagles-Jags on Oct. 11, and Countdown will be live from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles the next day. While it’d technically be possible for Kelce to make both (a London to Los Angeles flight is about 10-11 hours), it would be a lot of back-and-forth for Kelce to travel to the site of Monday’s game between every international assignment.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.