Jason Kelce can call himself a Super Bowl champion, but he missed a chance to swap it with ‘Sports Emmy winner.’ For the second straight year, the former Philadelphia Eagles star’s contributions in the media went unrecognized. This is the one area where Kelce’s football legacy would not be of much help.

He was beaten to this Sports Emmy by ESPN’s Katie George. The two were nominated for the Outstanding Sports Personality Emerging On-Air Talent award. This was actually the second time Kelce was nominated for the award, since he joined ESPN in 2024.

George covers college football for the network and also hosts the ‘Unlapped’ podcast for ESPN, catering to Formula 1. She has otherwise covered events like the UFL, NBA, and Premier Lacrosse, and has been with ESPN since 2021. Her portfolio managed to outdo Kelce’s, even though he is the bigger entity here.

Kelce had already become a household name before he joined ESPN, thanks to his super-hit New Heights podcast. The network made Kelce a part of Monday Night Countdown, the pregame show for Monday Night Football. The league has also been making use of his star power in other sports.

Earlier this year, he served as a special correspondent for ESPN’s NHL Stadium Series, making a cameo in the Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins game. Jason Kelce also made a brief appearance on ESPN’s crew covering the prestigious Masters tournament. He also used to host a late-night show.

He really is everywhere.

Kelce might not have won the award, but the nomination alone is a huge win for him as a media professional. When he was nominated for the Sports Emmy, Kelce made sure to also give credit to the people behind the scenes.

“The reason I think it’s cool is because there’s a lot of people that put a lot of hard time and work into making all the things that I f–g do,” he said on New Heights. “This podcast, the Monday Night Countdown crew, the desk that I’m on with, I’m on with some incredible experts and people that are actually the best at what they do in the sports analysis realm.”

Kelce’s loud and colorful personality has made him one of the most famous NFL personalities in sports media. His prominence could also land him an even better job in the future.

Jason Kelce could have a bigger role at ESPN in the future

According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Kelce has even emerged as a candidate for a potential role in ESPN’s No.2 broadcast booth. After the network acquired NFL Network, it was expected that the new owners would replace veterans Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, and Louis Riddick Jr. with a new crew. Marchand wrote that Kelce was a “dark horse” candidate for an analyst role in the team.

However, the frontrunner for a confirmed spot was Dave Pasch, who is also a veteran in the network. He has been with ESPN since 2003, and primarily covers the NBA and some college football and basketball games.

ESPN no longer has doubleheaders on Monday Night Football, and the freed-up games have been used for international programming. Perhaps the network and the league are relying on their most popular faces to draw the maximum possible viewership. Putting Kelce on the panel will be a gamble, but there aren’t many who can compete with the star power he would bring.

If you thought Jason Kelce couldn’t be any more prominent in the media, you were wrong. He’s going to be in football programming for quite some time.