Sibling rivalry! Football players who have brothers who play in the NFL
Sibling rivalry! Peyton Manning and Eli Manning and Travis Kelce and Jason Kelly are among some of the most acclaimed brothers playing in the National Football League (NFL).
Peyton was initially drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 1998, nearly six years before little brother Eli was picked up by the San Diego Chargers prior to his New York Giants trade. Peyton, for his part, was finally traded to the Denver Broncos in 2012 shortly before helping them to a Super Bowl win. He retired in 2016.
After watching his big brother retire from the NFL, Eli continued to play with the Giants until his retirement in January 2020.
“I think I retired more recently than he did, so I hope I can throw [a pass] better than him, but who knows?” told the University of Mississippi alum exclusively Us weekly in January 2022, joking about his athletic abilities compared to Peyton. “I don’t think anybody wants to see that right now. It’s just been fun [working together on a Super Bowl commercial]. It’s just been a lot of fun and have a reason [to get] together.”
Eli continued, “He lives in Denver [and] I live in New Jersey. We don’t always see each other. So this is a time when we do see each other and hang out. … It’s a mix of kind of talking about football and getting off topic a bit and just talking about life.
While the Mannings — who currently co-host a “Manningcast” football recap podcast and provide game commentary on ESPN2’s Monday Night Games — are happy to hang out after retirement, they’re not immune to sibling bickering.
“Because I’m the little brother, I think everything I do annoys him, that’s the way it is,” Eli said. Us in January 2022. “And I got used to it, just being in that situation every time I’m in the room, and he’s there, like everything I do is going to annoy him: if I don’t watch the game, if I’m too good look, when I sit too close to the TV, when I drink my Pepsi too hard, when I eat my Lays and rustle the newspaper; everything irritates the big brother.”
The Kelce brothers have also made their name known on their respective NFL teams. Jason, for his part, was called up first to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011. Travis joined the league two years later when the Kansas City Chiefs drafted him.
“I ended up beating him with his body and we ended up breaking some things in the kitchen,” said the former Catch Kelly star recalled his last fight with Jason, when they were in high school, during a September 2018 appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. “Do you want to talk about turning into a man? I turned into a man that day. That is definitely won [me] some confidence because I never really took it that way to fight back [because he] was always bigger, stronger than me.
Travis and Jason have since buried the hatchet and even launched their joint podcast “New Heights” to talk about various sports news of the week.
Scroll below to meet the pro football players and their brothers who played in the NFL: