Jason Kelce was destined for a career in the media long before he partnered with his brother, Travis, to co-host a popular podcast.
It was evident early on after Andy Reid selected Kelce in the sixth round of the 2011 draft that his dynamic personality would play well on the other side of the microphone. Kelce became a go-to source for reporters throughout his 13-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles. He's insightful, eloquent and funny.
Kelce has the skills to succeed in television and he brings credibility to the studio where he’ll be part of ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” broadcast team.
The six-time All-Pro center might be a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer and he has a chance to be an even better analyst.
Asked how his Eagles went from starting 10-1 last season to finishing 11-6 and getting blown out by Tampa Bay in a wild-card game, Kelce provided an astute explanation.
“First of all, whenever you lose that many games in a row, it’s never just one person or one area,” Kelce told The Associated Press. “It sounds pretty bad, but the same as when you’re winning at a high level, when you’re losing at a high level, every area is struggling, players, coaches, talent. I think we had a lot of talent last year but there were pieces that we were missing. I think the cohesion certainly wasn’t there like it was the year before. Obviously, we lost two coordinators, which it didn’t work out with the replacements."
The Eagles reached the Super Bowl after the 2022 season, losing 38-35 to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen left to coach Indianapolis. He was replaced by quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon departed to coach Arizona. Sean Desai took over and didn’t even last a full season before former Patriots DC Matt Patricia replaced him.
“I think Brian, Desai and Matt Patricia, all these guys are great coaches but for whatever reason. ... it didn’t really come together right,” Kelce continued. “On offense, when we struggled, we went to try and go simpler. I feel like you have one or two ways to go when you’re struggling. You either go simple and get back to your basics and your bread and butter. Or you go complex and you try and design your way out of these things and outsmart the opponent. On offense, we went simpler. On defense, we went the opposite way. We completely overhauled our defensive coordinator and system, and you kind of saw the downsides of both of those.
“Offensively, I think everybody would agree that we probably went too simple, and that got a little bit predictable and it could put us in situations that were probably harder to execute in. On defense, I think it created a little bit of hesitancy and guys just not really being able to play fast and aggressive because they’re unsure. I think that players didn’t execute at the level that we did the year before, me included. It’s always kind of a little bit of everything. And, I feel good about where they’re at now. I really do."
Kelce has spent plenty of time around his former teammates at the Eagles' practice facility throughout the offseason and training camp. The 36-year-old was still playing at an elite level when he walked away from the game. He earned his seventh Pro Bowl berth last season and was a first-team AP All-Pro for the third straight year.
But forget about Kelce pulling a Brett Favre or Tom Brady and coming out of retirement. He’s already down from his playing weight of 295 pounds to 275 and aims to get to 260.
“They’re not going to call me to come back and play center at 260 pounds, and I’m moving on to the next thing and I’m excited to watch Cam (Jurgens),” Kelce said of his replacement. “I really think Cam is going to be tremendous this year. He’s going to really show people how great of a player he is. He was good for us last year at right guard and he’s going to flourish at center. And for me personally, my days of playing are just done and I do not foresee any scenario taking place other than maybe medicine inventing a way to get rid of arthritis that I would ever entertain coming back at all anymore.”
Kelce has enough to keep him busy with the TV gig, the “New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce” podcast plus a wife and three young daughters. Then there’s the occasional trip to see superstar Taylor Swift — Travis’ girlfriend — perform in concert. And, all those endorsement opportunities that come his way.
Kelce especially enjoyed partnering up with General Mills to create the Kelce Mix Cereal, which combines Jason and Travis’ top three favorite cereals — Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Reese’s Puffs — into one bowl.
“These are cereals that my brother and I grew up eating and we love them,” Kelce said. “They’re nostalgic brands and a part of our childhood. I think that now that we’ve built the Kelce (Mix Cereal) involving three of our favorites, it’s kind of like everything coming full circle a little bit. It’s a unique cereal. When we were first approached about it, I didn’t know how those three cereals were going to actually blend together, like it’s an odd combination. But I gotta be honest. It tastes really freaking good.”
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FILE - Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce arrives for the NFL Honors show, Feb. 10, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif..(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, file)
Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah is promising to retaliate for deadly attacks on its communication devices after Israel’s defense minister announced a “new phase” of the war. Fears are increasing that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. They have come close to a full-blown war on several occasions.
Here's the latest:
Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.
Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
Israel's foreign ministry said Friday it submitted two legal briefs in response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against the country's leaders.
The court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. One of them was since assassinated in what was believed to be an Israeli strike.
The foreign ministry said it has submitted two legal briefs challenging the court’s jurisdiction to arrest Israeli leaders and claiming the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate itself before requesting the warrants.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on the social media platform X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.
Israel is not a party to the court. Rights groups say the country has struggled to investigate itself in the past. Netanyahu has brushed off calls for a state investigation into the failings that led to the Oct. 7 attack.
BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.
An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.
Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded about 3,000.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.
The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.
In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Right-wing Israelis with relatives held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and their supporters, rally against a hostage deal, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. The placard in Hebrew reads: " To bathe in his blood." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Houses are engulfed in fire as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians duck for cover as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
FILE - Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
