Jason Kelce faces one of the biggest dilemmas in football ahead of this year’s Super Bowl: Family or franchise.
The retired center’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles, who he played for throughout the entirety of his glittering 13-year NFL career, are set to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, the team of his younger brother, Travis, in Super Bowl LIX.
The season finale down in New Orleans is a rematch of Super Bowl LVII – dubbed the Kelce Bowl – which saw Travis and the Chiefs take down Jason and the Eagles in Arizona. But if the elder Kelce brother holds a grudge, he isn’t letting it show.
Forced to chose between rooting for his brother or his former teammates, Jason offered a diplomatic solution.
‘Here’s the biggest thing. Obviously, you’re my brother. I always root for my brother. That’s the reality of it,’ the Eagles legend said in the latest episode of New Heights.
‘Even though I’m decked out in Eagles gear, I’m always going to root for Travis. But there’s a lot of people in the Philadelphia organization, whether it’s players, coaches, people in the building that feel like extended family to me, especially my former lineman, like Lane Johnson feels like a brother in a lot of ways.
‘And I’m rooting for those guys too. I’m rooting for Philadelphia and I’m rooting for Travis Kelce. That’s the reality of it. No matter what on game day, I’m going to be happy for one of those sides and I’m going to be sad for the other side.
‘And it’s similar to the last time we played. I mean, maybe a little bit less intense because I’m not playing now, but I think it’s going to be very, very similar. I really do. I live in Philadelphia. I still go to the facility on a very regular basis. I still feel like I am a Philadelphia Eagle and that I’m a part of all of these people that root and cheer on our team.
‘So I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be very happy if the Chiefs or if the Eagles… I’m trying to think, I’m saying like double negatives right now. I’m trying to get this right. I would be lying if I said I don’t want the Eagles to win. You know what I mean?
‘I want them to, but I also want Travis Kelce to win. So, that’s a long-winded way of saying, I just want to see a good football game and whoever wins, I’m going to be happy for that guy.’
Unlike the last time the Eagles and Chiefs collided on football’s greatest stage, Jason, 36, will be watching on from the stands after announcing his retirement from the NFL at the end of last season.
On Sunday, he was in Philadelphia to watch his former Eagles teammates book their spot in the big game again, before hot-footing it to Kansas City to watch his brother Travis do the same.
If his Eagles manage to topple the reigning champions in the Big Easy – and enact revenge for the Super Bowl in 2023 – it would prevent Kansas City from sealing a historic three-peat.
The Chiefs’ overtime triumph over the San Francisco 49ers in las Vegas last year saw them crowned back-to-back champions, becoming the first to do so since Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004.
Travis and Co launched a second-half comeback in 2023 to beat Jason and the Eagles 38-35 to mark what could be the first victory of a three-peat, if they can replicate their success again.
Jason’s loyalty to the Eagles would match his wife Kylie’s with the Philadelphia native adamantly sticking by the team last season even after they were eliminated.
The mother-of-three joined her husband in cheering on her brother-in-law, alongside Travis’s girlfriend Taylor Swift, throughout the playoffs after the Eagles were knocked out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round.
However, it’s unlikely that she’ll be showing up in support of her brother-in-law over her hometown Eagles on February 9.
She previously refused to wear Chiefs merchandise, settling for red University of Cincinnati – the brothers’ Alma Mater – to show her support instead, and it’s expected she’ll be dressed head-to-toe in Philadelphia green for this year’s big game.
