Jason Kelce is coming to town. The former NFL center for the Philadelphia Eagles who now works on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown team — as well as cohosts the New Heights podcast with his brother, Travis Kelce — started the Dec. 22 broadcast of the MNF pre-game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers with a little Christmas cheer.
Clad in a Santa Claus outfit, the bellowing Kelce plunked out a few notes of “Jingle Bells” on his electric keytar and screamed, “Yeah, merry Christmas,” before joining the band for a full-blown, rocking version of the classic festive tune. “We got Buddy the Elf,” Kelce added as the camera panned to man wearing a costume that seemed more generic elf than the Will Ferrell character.
Kelce is no stranger to music. He’s part of The Philly Specials, a group of current and former Eagles players who have released three holiday albums for charity. (Billboard even ranked “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” Kelce’s duet with his brother from the second of those LPs, as one of the best 21st century covers of Christmas tracks. It also made the brothers Billboard-charting artists, with the song debuting at No. 2 on the Rock Digital Song Sales and No. 5 on the Digital Song Sales charts in November 2023.) And of course, his brother’s fiancé is none other than pop superstar Taylor Swift.
Of his ties with Swift, Jason says he keeps it familial rather than mix in any business. “I just enjoy her being my brother’s soon-to-be wife and aunt to my kids, and we try to leave that relationship where it should be, there,” he told the Wall Street Journal. But he does admire her work ethic. “Watching her operate, watching her savviness in getting her entire music catalogue back, watching how she has toured the globe while also writing an entire new album, the level at which she takes control over a lot of different aspects but also allowing people to be experts in their own right, I think that a lot of that stuff is fun to watch.”
Watch Jason Kelce rock out on Monday Night Countdown below:
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