It is official. One of Philadelphia’s favorite adopted sons is hanging up his cleats and calling it a career after thirteen years in the NFL. Jason Kelce is wrapping it up.
The veteran Eagles center, who has spent his entire 13-seasons in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’, Philadelphia, is retiring from the NFL, he announced on Monday in an emotional, tear jerker of a news conference.
“It took a lot of hard work and determination getting here. I have been the underdog my entire career, and I mean this when I say this, I wish I still was,” Kelce said.
Kelce shared touching stories from his time in youth football, college career and his incredible run with the Eagles, continuously stopping as he became overwhelmed with emotion. He also paid homage to Eagles fans, thanking them for allowing him to represent the blue collar city.
“No one celebrates their own like the city of Philadelphia,” Kelce said. “Athletes become demigods in this city.”
Kelce, 36 years-of-age, shared earlier Monday that he made up his mind and had come to a decision about his playing future in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“No Keg videos this year, I have come to a decision and will address it at a press conference this afternoon,” he wrote.
Kelce was referring to the March 2022 video of him announcing his return to the Eagles on a one-year contract which began with him filling up a cup of beer from a keg.
A sixth-round pick (No. 191 overall) by the Eagles in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati, Jason has six All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowls nods under his belt. He won Super Bowl LII in 2018 with the Eagles over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots by a final of 41-33 and helped Philadelphia reach the Super Bowl in February 2023, when he faced Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs in a 38-35 loss in Glendale, Ariz.
Kelce also was durable and an iron man, holding the franchise record for most consecutive starts at 157, having not missed a game since 2014.
Kelce’s brother Travis, the star Chiefs tight end, was in the front row for the press conference and also could not hold back tears. After his nearly 45-minute love letter to the game was done, Kelce hugged Travis, his parents Donna and Ed and kissed his wife Kylie.
Prior to the announcement, the father off three spent time with Travis in Philadelphia.
The brothers attended a fundraiser to raise money for cancer survivors after a young man named Brendan McDermott, 38, passed away on May 31 after losing his battle to colorectal cancer, and met with firefighters and other first responders.
Kelce, who could have become an unrestricted free agent next week, was the focus of retirement speculation following Philadelphia’s stunning first-round playoff ouster in January, a crushing 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round. It came after the Eagles dropped six of their final seven games following a 10-1 start.
Kelce reportedly told his teammates in the locker room after Philadelphia’s wild-card loss that he was retiring. Afterward, the All-Pro center repeatedly said he would announce his decision when the time is right.
Travis talked about his brother’s future during last month’s Super Bowl festivities in Las Vegas, where Kansas City became repeat champions for the first time in two decades, in a 25-22 win against the San Francisco 49ers on February 11.
“I’ll tell you what, I think it’s still up in the air whether or not he’s going to continue to play football,” he told 11-year-old reporter Jeremiah Fennell.
When asked if his older brother would play in the Eagles’ international game in Brazil next season, Travis answered with, “I think he’s got some football left in him.”
A week later, the brothers were celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win with Travis’ girlfriend, Taylor Swift in Las Vegas.
Jason has been transparent about the toll football has taken on his body toward the end of his career, and how his wife Kylie has been supportive every step of the way. The couple, who tied the knot in April 2018, share three daughters, Wyatt Elizabeth, 4, Elliotte Ray, 2, and Bennett Llewellyn, who turned one in February 2023.
As for what Kelce will do next, he has a plethora of options and has the entire world at his feet. He and his brother have an enormously popular and successful podcast. He is beloved around the NFL and especially in Philadelphia. Kelce is smart, funny, eloquent and fiercely motivational. He could do anything that he sets his mind to. But right now, he is not sure what he wants to do. No one would bat an eye or blame him if he did absolutely nothing for a while. He has earned it.
