Jason Kelce announces retirement in emotional Press conference

Jason Kelce retires after 13 seasons with Philadelphia Eagles

 

During the past seven seasons, the Eagles have made six postseason berths and twice made it to the Super Bowl. Star center Jason Kelce, one of the team’s major leaders, announced his retirement in a tearful statement on Monday, capping a Hall of Fame-caliber career.

Jason Kelce, sporting a sleeveless Eagles T-shirt, spoke for 45 minutes, stopping frequently to allow his emotions to take control. “I’ve been questioned many times why did I join football — what attracted me to the game — and I never have an answer that gets it right,” Kelce said. “It can best be described as the same force that pulls you to your favorite book or song. That’s how it causes you to feel. The gravity of the situation.

“I never felt more alive and liberated than I did when I stepped onto the field. Football had a visceral quality that no other sport could match. My arms’ hair would rise up. I love football so much that I could hit someone, run around similar to a crazy person, and then be told, “Good job.”

Kelce, 36, was selected in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft and spent his whole 13-year playing career for the Eagles. He played at a high level right up until his last action, as seen by his seven Pro Bowl selections in 13 seasons and his sixth first-team All-Pro selection in 2023.

“It has always been an ambition of mine to play my entire career in a single city,” stated Kelce. “I could not have dreamt a better one if I wanted.”

He is the only player in the center position to have appeared on the first team of All-Pro honors a total of six times and won a Super Bowl since the 1970 merger.

Along with his wife Kylie and brother Travis Kelce, the prominent tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs who was wearing sunglasses inside the theater, Kelce’s parents, Ed and Donna, were also present.

Travic Kelce also had tears in his eyes when jason Klece described their brotherhood.

Concluded the previous few years, Jason Kelce had considered retiring on a few occasions, but this time, things would be different. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports, after the team’s January wild-card defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kelce informed his teammates that his football days were done.

Right tackle Lane Johnson noted at the time, “If it was his final game, he was one of the most exceptional buddies I’ve ever had.” “A man with unrivaled passion. I saw a man attempt to drive him from the town. I saw a player emerge from it and possibly develop into the best center to have ever played.

Kelce, who has been selected to at least six All-Pro teams, is the fifth center in NFL history. The Pro Football Hall of Fame incorporates the other four, Jim Otto, Bulldog Turner, Dermontti Dawson, and Jim Ringo.

When Kelce was picked in the sixth round of the 2011 NBA Draft, not much was said about his arrival. Undersized and overshadowed by the major “Dream Team” free agency splash additions of cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, quarterback Vince Young, and others that year—a squad that infamously flamed out—he was a walk-on running back at Cincinnati who later switched to guard and then center.

In the meanwhile, Jason Kelce emerged as the team’s starting center and established himself as a mainstay despite having four different head coaches: Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, and Nick Sirianni.

After undergoing  hernia surgery in 2014, he missed a month of action, and his poor performance in 2015 raised concerns about his long-term future in Philadelphia. Afterwards, in spite of numerous ailments, he went on to set a team record by appearing in 156 straight regular-season games.

‘Throughout my entire career, I have always been the underdog’, Jason Kelce claimed. “And I mean this when I speak it, I still wished I was.”

 

A succession plan is in existence. In the 2nd round of the 2022 NBA Draft, Cam Jurgens was chosen to be center Michael Kelce’s apparent successor. Following that pick, Kelce referred to Jurgens as “my desired player in the draft,” stating that for the previous two to three years, the Eagles had been requesting that he assess centers entering the league. The person who compared to him the best was Jurgens.

Making a long farewell statement and thanking his five family members, including his 31-year-old wife Kylie, for a minute.

Jason paused his speech to thank his wife for giving birth to his three children, Bennett, age 12, Elliotte, age 23, and Wyatt, age 4.

He sobbed as he stated, “She has provided me three beautiful girls and a life that constantly offers me more fulfillment outside the field than it does on,” at the press conference.

The whole retirement statement was shared on Philadelphia Eagles media https://x.com/Eagles/status/1764724363771756791?s=20

Jason Kelce has a plethora of alternatives for his career after football. Following the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl LII victory, he rose to fame in the community. With the Eagles-Chiefs “Kelce Bowl” and the well-liked “New Heights” podcast, that has since exploded into national and now international fame. It reached even greater heights when brother Travis started seeing singer Taylor Swift, one of the most well-known people on the planet.

A number of networks are reportedly pursuing him in Las Vegas in the run-up to Super Bowl LVIII, making broadcasting a tempting option.