Jason Kelce Spent the Year Setting Himself Up Perfectly for Media Career

Professional athletes are rarely gifted a perfect time to retire, but Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce has come close.

Kelce, who reportedly told his teammates he plans to retire after the Eagles lost on Monday, certainly would have preferred a different final game. The Eagles fell 32-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round on Monday Night Football, which appropriately stamped a disappointing 1-6 stretch that came on the heels of a 10-1 start to the season.

As the game wound down, Kelce was spotted weeping on the sideline, and he told reporters he wasn't yet ready to talk after the game.

Once Kelce settles into retirement, however, he might be glad he made a number of savvy moves during the 2023 season that could be the beginning of a highly successful media career now that he's done playing.

First and foremost, of course, is Kelce's New Heights podcast, which he built into one of the most successful sports podcasts in the world with his brother Travis.

New Heights launched in 2022 and was already popular among sports fans, but it exploded this season as Travis' relationship with Taylor Swift became public. The end result for the show: 1.84 million YouTube subscribers and big numbers on both Spotify and Apple.

Given the success of The Pat McAfee Show, which McAfee built up to 2.43 million subscribers, the Kelce brothers have a number of potentially lucrative options available to them.

McAfee showed how valuable it can be for a player to rope in his football friends and acquaintances for interviews, and how an engaging conversation about football featuring players can draw an audience.

The Pat McAfee Show isn't a perfect blueprint for New Heights, of course. McAfee's success is due in part to his deft ability to build and engage with an extremely online audience, which requires a willingness to push boundaries and take risks that probably wouldn't benefit the image-conscious Kelce brothers.

Still, image-conscious isn't always bad. The last few weeks showed why having safe-but-still-popular options like Jason and Travis Kelce could be beneficial for networks—Travis was dubbed "Mr. Pfizer" by repeat McAfee guest Aaron Rodgers earlier this year, and Rodgers' wholehearted embrace of conspiracy theories was a running joke on McAfee's show (and ultimately, a headache for ESPN).

The Kelce brothers have engaging conversations about football as well, and while they have a swear jar to which Travis in particular contributes frequently, they don't generally wade into controversial waters.

In addition to his success as a podcaster, Jason proved to be an engaging presence on live TV. He made an appearance at legendary Chicago hot-dog restaurant The Wiener's Circle as part of a Thursday Night Football broadcast earlier in November, and he livened up the play-by-play booth for a dismal Carolina Panthers vs. Chicago Bears showdown that desperately needed a spark.

Afterward on New Heights, Travis asked Jason if he wanted to get into broadcasting.

"I don't know man," Jason said.

"Yes you do," Travis scoffed.

Newsweek reached out to Jason's representation by email to ask about his potential for a media career.

Jason told Travis he was deeply impressed by all of the talent and work that goes into a professional broadcast both on and off the air, adding that Kirk Herbstreit's job seemed like "an art form" that would take a while to perfect.

"I could do the desk pre/post-show, have an opinion on the teams and the games and stuff like that," Jason said. "I think any former player could do that[...]That part isn't that hard of having an opinion on something."

Whatever direction Jason chooses to go, he is in a great position. Retirement will sting for a while, but his podcast and TV hustle provided him with an abundance of lucrative media opportunities.