Eagles star center Jason Kelce, one of the key leaders for a team that’s made six postseason appearances and two Super Bowl trips over the past seven seasons, recently announced his retirement in a tear-filled speech, closing the book on a Hall of Fame career. Kelce, wearing a sleeveless Eagles T-shirt, said during a 45-minute speech that he had to stop many times as he was overtaken by emotion, “I’ve been asked many times why did I choose football — what drew me to the game — and I never have an answer that gets it right. The best way I could explain it is what draws you to your favorite song, your favorite book. It’s what it makes you feel. The seriousness of it. The intensity of it.”
Kelce continued, “Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt. There was a visceral feeling with football, unlike any sport. The hairs on my arms would stand up. I could hit somebody, run around like a crazed lunatic and then get told, ‘Good job.’ I love football.” A sixth-round draft selection in 2011, Kelce, 36, played his entire 13-year career with the Eagles. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls in 13 seasons and was named first-team All-Pro for the sixth time in 2023, proof that he played at an elite level up to his final snap.
He said, “It has always been a goal of mine to play my whole career in one city. I couldn’t have dreamt a better one if I tried.” Since the 1970 merger, he is the only center who has won a Super Bowl and earned first-team All-Pro honors six times. Kelce’s parents, Donna and Ed, were in attendance, as was his wife Kylie and brother Travis Kelce, the star Kansas City Chiefs tight end who was wearing sunglasses inside the auditorium. At various points over the past several years, Kelce had contemplated retirement, but it became clear that things would be different this time around when, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he told teammates his playing days were over after the wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccanneers in January.
Right tackle Lane Johnson said then, “If it was his last game, he was one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. A guy whose passion is unmatched. A guy who I saw Philly try to run him out of town. I saw a guy emerge from that and become the best center maybe that’s ever played.” Kelce is the fifth center in NFL history with at least six All-Pro selections. The other four — Jim Otto, Bulldog Turner, Dermontti Dawson and Jim Ringo — are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There is a succession plan in place. Cam Jurgens was selected in the second round of the 2022 draft to be Kelce’s heir apparent at center.
Right after that selection was made, Kelce called Jurgens “my favorite player in the draft,” saying the Eagles had been asking him to evaluate centers coming out of college for the past two to three years. Jurgens was the one who compared most favorably to him. Kelce has plenty of options for his post-playing career. He became a local icon after the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII win in 2018. That has since ballooned into national and now international fame, starting with the Eagles-Chiefs “Kelce Bowl” and the popular “New Heights” podcast. Broadcasting is a strong option, with multiple networks reportedly courting him in Las Vegas in the lead-up to Super Bowl LVIII.