All-Pro Jason Kelce announces retirement from NFL

Jason Kelce needed only seconds to burst into tears.

Kelce’s eyes flooded each time he relayed a story about backyard football games with his brother, the love he felt from his parents and the devotion of his coaches — even a band teacher — that shaped him along way. But it was his career with the Philadelphia Eagles that choked up Kelce the most. The Super Bowl. The parade. His beloved offensive line coach.

It was time to retire.

The 36-year-old Kelce officially called it quits Monday, ending a 13-year career spent entirely with Philadelphia in which he became not only one of the great centers of his era but a beloved Philly personality and popular podcast host.

“Let’s see how long this lasts,” said Kelce, wearing a sleeveless Eagles T-shirt, before he burst into tears and needed several moments to compose himself at the news conference attended by his parents, Ed and Donna, wife Kylie and brother Travis.

“I have been the underdog my entire career,” Kelce said. “And I mean it when I say it, I wish I still was.”

Kelce was a sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati in the 2011 draft. The burly, bushy-haired and bearded Kelce has been a stalwart of the offensive line since he was drafted and as an Iron Man after he missed most of the 2012 season with a partially torn MCL and torn ACL.

The moment that endeared him for life to the Philly faithful came at the Super Bowl parade following the 2017 season when he dressed as one of Philadelphia’s famed Mummers, and he delivered a fiery, profane speech that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

Kelce recalled that moment Monday, saying: “I won’t forget the parade and what it meant to the city of Philadelphia. That wasn’t my speech, it was Philadelphia’s.”

The Kelce brothers played each other in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, which was won by the Chiefs — “I won’t forget falling short to the Chiefs,” Jason said Monday — and co-host the “New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce” podcast. Jason attended the Chiefs’ playoff game in frigid Buffalo temperatures this season. He ripped off his shirt and chugged beers as he sat in a suite with Swift.

He’s been a showman off the football field, singing the national anthem at a 76ers game, partying with the Phillie Phanatic and pounding a beer to a roaring ovation at a Phillies postseason game.

But it was his work on the offensive line that made him a star. Kelce ended his career by making 156 straight starts, and he earned six All-Pro Team selections.

Kelce, who made seven Pro Bowls, and former Pittsburgh Steelers Dermontti Dawson and Mike Webster are the only centers since the 1970 merger to earn All-Pro nods five times. Dawson and Webster are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kelce played 193 regular-season games for the Eagles.




(AP Photo Phelan M. Ebenhack)