Jason Kelce is heading to ESPN as part of 'Monday Night Football' pregame show

Jason Kelce isn’t staying retired for long.

The former Eagles center and New Heights podcast co-host is taking a TV job at ESPN, where he’ll join the network’s "Monday Night Countdown" pregame show leading up to "Monday Night Football," according to sources.

Kelce will join host Scott Van Pelt and analysts Marcus Spears and Ryan Clark, and presumably fill the spot held last season by former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III, who isn’t expected to return.

The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand was first to report the move.

After announcing his retirement in a tear-jerking speech in March, Kelce was highly sought after by just about every TV network and Amazon for a role on their NFL broadcasts. Leading up to the Super Bowl, Kelce met with executives at Fox, Amazon, and CBS. He impressed TV folks in his debut as a studio analyst last season for Amazon on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football, during the Eagles’ bye week.

So why did Kelce choose ESPN? One reason might be that, with three young children, he can still keep his weekends free while pursuing a post-playing career on TV. The move will also allow him to continue hosting New Heights alongside his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Kelce will presumably be a big part of Disney’s upfronts in two weeks, which are presentations made to advertisers ahead of the next season.

Lots of changes at ESPN and CBS

The former Eagles center isn’t the only big addition ESPN has made this offseason. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban made his debut on ABC last week as an NFL draft analyst, and this fall he’ll join ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday pregame show alongside Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee.

There’s also former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who made his debut as an analyst during the NFL draft alongside McAfee. Belichick is expected to have a reoccurring role on the Manningcast, ESPN’s Monday Night Football alternate broadcast, alongside Peyton and Eli Manning, according to The Athletic.

Belichick was sharp in his debut, and had a lot to say about the Eagles first-round pick, cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.

“This is a big, physical kid that’ll also play on special teams, so he’ll help them on four downs,” Belichick said. “Really is a perimeter guy. He’s got good skills, and I’m sure they’ll develop him into a better man-to-man player. He just hasn’t played much man-to-man against high-level competition yet, but he’ll get there.”

ESPN isn’t the only network tinkering with its pregame lineup. CBS announced Monday that former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan would be replacing Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason on The NFL Today, the network’s Sunday pregame show.