Jason Kelce was an accomplished NFL player for the Philadelphia Eagles with a lengthy list of accolades that includes a thrilling Super Bowl victory over Tom Brady’s Patriots in Super Bowl 52, paired with an all-time parade speech (and outfit) to go with it.
At present day, the 38-year-old Kelce has maintained great visibility, doing broadcast work for ESPN, an endless array of of television commercials, and also happens to co-host New Heights, the No. 1 sports podcast on Spotify with brother Travis Kelce.
But, apparently that’s just not quite enough.
Retired NFL Lineman Jason Kelce Badly Wants to Dunk a Basketball
Yes, the lovable Kelce is apparently making a valiant effort to successfully dunk a basketball.
Standing at 6-foot-3 and 300-plus pounds, the retired NFL lineman wants to dunk a basketball so badly that he’s put into place a 30-day training program in order to do so.
Now, to be fair here, 306 pounds was Kelce’s listed playing weight.
If you’ve happened to catch him at all on ESPN’s Monday Night Football this season, it’s pretty evident he’s dropped some weight.
Jason Kelce Announces Training Program to Dunk on ‘New Heights’
“I’m about to pop my achilles, I’m gonna go try and dunk tomorrow and pop my [expletive] achilles,” Kelce began.
“I wanna do a video where I try to dunk over 30 days. I’m gonna try and dunk, and you know I can’t dunk,” Kelce continued in speaking to brother Travis.
While making a sincere attempt to explain that he’s previously “been close” and “high enough” where he’s “not that far off” from dunking, Travis was quick to bring his older brother directly back to Earth.
“Time and athleticism has caught up to you to the point where I think you have missed the sweet spot for dunking,” the Chiefs star tight end bluntly stated.
Kelce went on to somewhat confusingly explain that his plan is do all sorts of training in the weight room, which will apparently include dunking several different types of balls and, perhaps most notably, do a whole bunch of tests that will make his “vertical higher.”
It’s really not clear how Kelce will manage to increase his vertical leap over the span of 30 days, but crazier things have certainly happened.
Jason Kelce reacts to the crowd during WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field on April 6, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
As a reminder, while Kelce is hardly short at 6-foot-3, we are talking about a former NFL center whose chief responsibility was to snap the ball cleanly and then keep his feet locked to the ground in order to either block for his quarterback or create lanes for his running backs.
Nothing in his entire 13-year career as an All-Pro offensive lineman with the Eagles ever required the skill of jumping, or the need to ever jump.
However, it must be noted that the bold, bearded fella still has some serious wheels.
One of the more fitting comments to emerge on X upon Kelce’s announcement went as follows:
“This is a TERRIBLE idea. I love it.”
That about sums it up.
Then again, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt chiming in simply by posting the classic Danny DeVito “nope” head shake GIF might have succinctly summed up Kelce’s master plan in the most proper way.
Regardless of whether we see a successful dunk or end up with Kelce doing an episode of New Heights live from a podiatrist’s office, this has all the marks for tremendous content.
There’s just simply no way to fail here, even with a supremely epic fail.
