Jason Kelce in a Denver Broncos jersey? Say it ain’t so.
That was the stunned reaction of many NFL fans ahead of the Broncos’ matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football as Kelce was seen proudly sporting a Denver jersey at a tailgate outside Mile High Stadium.
Kelce, who hails from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, opted not to wear the jersey of his hometown team, the Browns, in a move that raised plenty of eyebrows in the football community. The ESPN analyst took to social media to explain his controversial jersey choice:
“Every tailgate I go into Monday Night Football, I wear a jersey honoring a former great of the home team,” Kelce wrote on X. “Tonight I wore Tom Nalen’s jersey as one of the legendary centers of the game and a guy I looked up to and watched when learning the position as an undersized center.
“I like honoring great players of this league while venturing into the tailgates of teams fans, but I told everyone in the tailgate I was rooting for the Browns, and when we were making our picks for who was going to win the game, I said ‘I can’t bring myself to pick against my hometown team’ and picked the Browns solely because of that.”
Kelce was, in fact, the only analyst on Monday Night Countdown to pick the Browns as the winner. They went on to lose, 41-32, to the Broncos.
Kelce elaborated on the special jerseys he’s worn to NFL games this past year, from repping former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam to former Kansas City Chiefs running back Abner Haynes.
What Kelce is doing is a heartwarming act that speaks to his deep love for the game, and his critics may want to think twice next time before judging him so harshly.
