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Breaking News: ESPN ‘Agrees Multi-million Deal With Jason Kelce to join Monday Night Football’ after Eagles legend’s retirement… but network ‘faces competition from NBC, CBS and Amazon Prime’

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Jason Kelce is being ‘aggressively pursued’ by ESPN to join its Monday Night Football program, according to reports.

Kelce, 36, called time on his legendary NFL career in an emotional press conference earlier this month, when he announced his decision to bow out from the sport after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nevertheless, the Super Bowl-winning center is certainly not short of options as he prepares to embark on a new chapter in his post-playing career, with a number of television networks reportedly battling it out to sign him.

According to The Athletic, ESPN is determined to add Kelce to Monday Night Football next season as part of a shake-up to its pregame panel. Just one year after Scott Van Pelt stewarded a makeover of the set, Robert Griffin III’s place is believed to be under threat, while Hall of Fame receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s part-time role on ‘Monday Night Countdown’ is in limbo. Fitzgerald’s contract expired in February and has not yet been renewed after executives told him they wanted to see how the rest of their lineup shapes up before making a final decision.

ESPN officials have set their sights on adding Kelce to their popular Monday night show as an analyst, yet they also face competition from several other networks. NBC, CBS and Amazon Prime are also keen to snap up the recently-retired star, who featured on the latter’s Thursday Night Football when the Chicago Bears hosted the Carolina Panthers back in November.

Marcus Spears and Ryan Clark are set to return on ‘Countdown’ with Van Pelt, while Michelle Beisner-Buck will remain feature reporter. Another man on ESPN’s wish-list is the great Bill Belichick, who is without a coaching job in the NFL after leaving the New England Patriots. However, Belichick is understood to have told the network that he has no interest in joining a regular studio show.

Kelce is hot property in the TV world after announcing his retirement, which brought his lengthy stint in Philadelphia to an end. Earlier this week Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni admitted the team has lost one of the greatest players to grace both the franchise and the NFL after his veteran center chose to walk away. ‘Obviously we are losing one of the best players in not only Eagles history but NFL history,’ Sirianni said at the NFL’s Annual League Meeting on Tuesday. ‘One of the best centers of all time, so obviously there’s gonna be things that we gotta work to replace with that.’

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