NFL analyst Dov Kleiman sparked a debate last week with an X post claiming that NFL waterboys enjoy one of the best jobs because of their relatively high earnings. To make his point, Kleiman shared a photo of a Philadelphia Eagles staff member squirting water into a player’s mouth during a game. The post quickly circulated online, but it also mislabeled the Eagles’ staff member, and Jason Kelce is having none of it.

“The guy squirting water into Zach Ertz’s mouth is Joe O’Pella,” Jason Kelce wrote in an X post on April 5. “He’s an athletic trainer who’s been with the team for over 15 years at this point. NFL teams don’t really have water boys; athletic trainers are usually the ones responsible for having water on the practice field and during games, but this post is absolutely hilarious.”

Jason Kelce did not simply fix the name in the photo by pointing out the athletic trainer of the Eagles, Joe O’Pella, but he pointed to the larger problem. Many individuals in the NFL make sure that the games run smoothly off the field, and they do not receive the credit that they deserve. In this instance, the viral post reduced a long-time professional in the Eagles organization to the ‘waterboy’ term that Kelce obviously was not happy with.

Kleiman’s post also made the job of waterboys all about earning a big paycheck while staying close to NFL stars. 

“Wow: NFL waterboys earn over 3 THOUSAND dollars per game, which averages out to more than $50K per season, not including tips,” Kleiman wrote in his X post. “Waterboys also attend practices, handle locker room prep, and travel with the team. What a fantastic job to have 💸📈.”

Jason Kelce spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Eagles, so he naturally took offense at seeing Joe O’Pella misidentified. According to the Eagles’ official website, O’Pella is entering his 18th season as an athletic trainer with the team. In 2025, O’Pella received both the Tim Davey Assistant Athletic Trainer of the Year Award and the Honorary Ed Block Courage Award.

During the 2024 season, O’Pella also helped maintain an athletic training program that kept nearly the entire starting lineup in Philly healthy. As such, when they played in Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles had all but one of their 22 starters from Week 1 available. Jason Kelce shared even more details about O’Pella to highlight just how valuable he has been to his franchise.

“A guy who rehabbed my ACL tear in my second year, has a master’s degree from Pitt, and has years of experience keeping Eagles players healthy and on the field, being called a ‘Waterboy’ is crazy, and I’m already giving him shit for it, but good lord this post is so wildly misleading. Either way, thought I’d clear the air, that the people with Water Bottles during games actually serve much bigger roles on NFL Teams,” Jason Kelce added in his X post.

Beyond professional respect, Jason Kelce and O’Pella also share a deeply personal bond. Back in 2024, when Kelce announced his retirement, O’Pella reflected on their long relationship in an Instagram post. He revealed that he had taped Kelce’s ankles and thumbs for every single day of his NFL career. 

However, when Jason Kelce played his final NFL game, O’Pella couldn’t attend as he was battling cancer at the time. Still, O’Pella shared that Kelce had offered to let the trainer’s family use his beach house if they needed time away. Kelce even volunteered to pay for meal services for O’Pella’s family during his cancer treatment. 

So, when O’Pella heard that Kelce had retired, he also expressed regret that he couldn’t tape the center’s ankles one last time. Over the years, O’Pella became a constant presence in Kelce’s routine, which explains why Kelce felt compelled to defend his longtime trainer.

Was the post about NFL waterboys entirely misleading, as Jason Kelce suggested?

In 2022, when former NFL player Jacob Thieneman discussed NFL waterboys through a TikTok, he revealed that the average annual salary for the job is around $53,000. That figure makes an NFL waterboy’s earnings around $3,117.68 per game for a 17-game regular season, which aligns with Dov Kleiman’s claims. 

Kleiman also mentioned that waterboys help fill bottles, provide towels, prepare locker rooms, attend practices, and travel with the team. But like Jason Kelce, Thieneman also made it clear that the role of NFL waterboys isn’t as trivial as it might appear from the outside.

“These are trainers on the athletic training staff. Most of them have athletic training degrees or [physical therapy] degrees, and they’re learning the craft of treating players’ injuries and helping guys stay healthy,” Thieneman said in his TikTok. “They tape guys up, provide other treatments before and after games, and throughout the week. So, look at this more as an apprenticeship to learn the craft instead of just carrying water bottles.”

Many individuals who work with the NFL players on the sidelines have a background in sports management, the science of exercise, or other related areas, according to Thieneman. Some of them even hold master’s degrees, like Joe O’Pella, or begin working as equipment managers in college before working their way into larger roles in the NFL.

Finally, Jason Kelce also raised the point that the use of ‘waterboys’ in the modern NFL teams does not actually imply that there are waterboys. Rather, athletic trainers such as Joe O’Pella are normally responsible for hydration duties in addition to their significantly bigger role.