Keegan-Michael Key took no prisoners in his opening monologue during Thursday’s NFL Honors.
Some of the sport’s biggest names found themselves in the crosshairs, including Bill Belichick, Aaron Rodgers and, of course, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce as Key hosted the NFL awards show that was airing live from Las Vegas three days ahead of Super Bowl 2024.
There was no avoiding the topic of Swift and Kelce’s relationship, which has been one of the biggest storylines this NFL season.
“I think they’re both great, and I’m happy for them,” Key said early on in his monologue. “But Travis Kelce, you know this isn’t the first time a player has dated a singer. There’s Russell [Wilson] and Ciara. There was Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson. And, of course, there was Peyton Manning and Brad Paisley.”
But the Swift-Kelce jokes didn’t stop there, and Key used the celebrity couple to poke fun at an NFL coaching great who now finds himself unemployed.
“Who would’ve thought that Taylor Swift would’ve gone to more playoff games than Bill Belichick?” Key said as the camera panned to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was seen laughing.
Later, the funnyman took aim at one of the other biggest news items in the NFL during the season, Aaron Rodgers, using Browns quarterback — and ex-Jet — Joe Flacco as the setup.
“Joe Flacco is up for Comeback Player of the Year. It’s really crazy, it just seemed like everybody was catching Flacco fever. And coincidentally Flacco fever is also something Aaron Rodgers isn’t vaccinated against,” Key said jokingly.
The NFL spent Thursday night celebrating some of its top players, with the league’s biggest awards getting handed out.
Among the top winners, Lamar Jackson won NFL MVP honors, Christian McCaffrey won Offensive Player of the Year and C.J. Stroud left with the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
For Key, it marked the third time he’d hosted the show after he did so in 2017 and 2021.
