Travis and Jason Kelce watch Daejon Love’s fake 49ers life collapse one clip at a time
The Kelce brothers laughed at the workouts and contract signing, but the story becomes darker when you understand what those videos allegedly helped him accomplish
At first, it looks like internet comedy: Daejon Love running routes on a beach, completing football workouts and recording the day he supposedly signed with the San Francisco 49ers. Travis and Jason Kelce could barely contain their laughter as they watched the clips. But behind the homemade NFL production is something far less amusing.
Federal authorities allege those images formed part of an invented life that helped Love gain women’s trust and eventually take their money.
The brothers reacted during the September 2 season premiere of their New Heights podcast, an episode appropriately titled “Wide Deceivers.” They watched Love announce that he was joining the 49ers and appeared stunned by his reported explanation that clearing NFL waivers involved three components: “physical, mental and emotional.”
For two men who spent their lives inside professional football, the performance quickly began falling apart. Jason eventually warned women that they needed to be able to “sniff through” something like this.
What looked ridiculous to NFL veterans allegedly helped build real trust
There is, however, an important difference between watching a viral compilation after the story has been exposed and experiencing the alleged deception through a romantic relationship. Prosecutors say Love did not simply show women a helmet and immediately request money.
He allegedly spoke about building a future together, displayed fictitious financial accounts and introduced Taylor Jamie Chan as his investment adviser. Authorities say Chan participated in video calls showing fabricated profits before the women were encouraged to invest money or obtain personal loans.
Love, 35, and Chan, 18, were arrested in Boise, Idaho, on August 24 and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. The that at least 26 women across California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho lost approximately $1.3 million. The NFL and 49ers told investigators that Love had never worked for either organization.
The charges remain accusations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The strangest twist is that Love may not have fabricated every connection to professional football. Tyreek Hill confirmed that he knew Love and that they had trained together, describing him as genuinely talented and recalling that he could run approximately a 4.2-second 40-yard dash.
Hill’s comments do not validate Love’s supposed 49ers career or connect the NFL star to the alleged fraud. They do, however, help explain why parts of the story may have appeared believable.
Love seemingly possessed enough real athletic ability and access to NFL players to make the invented pieces more difficult to separate from the truth.
The Kelces watched the fantasy unravel in minutes because they knew exactly what an NFL career should look and sound like. The women, according to prosecutors, encountered it differently: not as a comedy sketch assembled for social media, but through someone who allegedly earned their affection and promised them a future.
That is what makes the brothers’ laughter so compelling but also so uncomfortable. Love’s supposed 49ers life may now look absurd, yet investigators believe it once appeared real enough to cause devastating consequences.
