Andy Reid Reminisces With Kelce Brothers on ‘New Heights’ Podcast
By Rachel Wang
After 37 episodes of anticipation from fans, Andy Reid has finally joined Jason and Travis Kelce on their “New Heights” podcast. The current Kansas City Chiefs head coach revealed that he had been anticipating his appearance on the show, exposing the Kelce brothers for being “a little nervous to ask.” Reid and Jason Kelce go way back, as Reid held the Eagles head coaching position from 1999-2012, and drafted Kelce in the 6th round of the 2011 NFL draft.
Reid tells the brothers that drafting Jason was easy. “So, you were a great player. A little undersized, but had tremendous toughness, speed. You were smart, and dirty tough, so you know that was an easy decision.” Travis Kelce’s draft was a different story. Reid’s son was the one to initially point out Travis to his father at his game versus Temple, and Reid commented on his first impression meeting Travis after the game. “‘If I get my hands on that son of a buck, I’m going to rip his heart out.’ But I played along with it. Cocky, cocky, damn, he was cocky. But listen, I knew the roots.” Reid then went on to draft Travis in the third round of the 2013 draft.
As the second-longest tenured player on the 2023 Eagles roster, rumors of his retirement have been circulating. But don’t worry, even after his retirement, Kelce plans on sticking around, revealing that he’s “thought about coaching, because I love coaches. I love the game, love the X’s and O’s of it.” He asks Reid to tell him, and the listeners about advice that Reid would give to anyone looking into getting into coaching. Reid advises that it’s better to start at a lower level of coaching at the college or pro level, and to work your way up, as it “allows you to develop your ability to teach, because really, that’s what you do, as opposed to being put on a real high position right of the bat and expectations go way up.”
Reid has coached in four total Super Bowls, and has made an appearance in ten conference championships between the Eagles and Chiefs. When Jason asks about if he cherished the wins more of if he bemoaned the losses more, Reid explains that the losses stick with you longer, but the trick is to learn from each win and loss. “On the losses, don’t get yourself too low. Let’s learn from it, make yourself better…When you win, you can’t get too high, because if you’re off a tick in the National Football League, you’re gonna get your tail kicked.”
Reid shared several stories from his Super Bowl experiences, one of them involving the Eagles’ current tight end, Dallas Goedert. He shares that “There was one point where I was back talking with Pat [Mahomes] my back was to the field and I heard the cheer and I turn around and your tight end caught the ball yeah and for a minute I went, ‘hey nice-‘.” Seems like Reid still has a soft spot for Eagles.
The trio wraps up by reminiscing on the most recent Super Bowl, where Reid, Travis, and the Chiefs faced of against Jason and the Eagles. It was dubbed by fans as “The Kelce Bowl,” however, in the brothers’ mind, it was “The Andy Reid Bowl.” Jason points out to Reid that “you had your fingerprint over both organizations in such a way.”
Fans are anticipating a rematch of Super Bowl LVII on Monday, November 20th at 8:15pm, coming off of a bye week for Philadelphia. See the full schedule for the 2023-2024 season here.
