Eagles’ Jason Kelce retires from the NFL after 13 seasons

Eagles’ Jason Kelce retires from the NFL after 13 seasons

Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce announced his retirement Monday in a tearful speech that lasted longer than 40 minutes, ending a 13-year NFL career that almost certainly will earn him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been asked many times what drew me to football, what drew me to the game. And I never had an answer that gets it right,” Kelce said. “The best way to explain it is what draws you to your favorite song, favorite book. It’s what it makes you feel — the seriousness of it, the intensity of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I have ever felt.”

Kelce, 36, blossomed into one of the NFL’s top centers even though he was a college walk-on at Cincinnati and a sixth-round draft pick by the Eagles in 2011. He was an all-pro in six of his final seven seasons and was a seven-time Pro Bowl pick. Pro Football Focus assigned him a player grade that ranked between No. 1 and No. 3 among the league’s centers in seven of his 13 seasons.

Kelce also was one of the league’s most durable offensive linemen and holds the Eagles record for consecutive starts at 156, which was the NFL’s second-longest active streak at the time of his retirement.

“It was fun, but it took a lot of hard work and determination in getting here,” Kelce said. “I have been the underdog my entire career, and I mean this when I say it: I wish I still was. Few things gave me more joy than proving someone wrong. I relished doubters. They fueled a fire within.”

How Eagles center Jason Kelce became the ‘king of Philly’

Off the field, Kelce achieved a new level of fame thanks to the “New Heights” podcast he hosts with younger brother Travis Kelce, one of the NFL’s top tight ends. But Kelce already was one of the most revered athletes in Philadelphia sports history, a position he cemented with the rousing, profane speech he gave after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in February 2018 and the album of Christmas music he recorded with teammates.

“Thank you, Philadelphia, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for letting me represent this city and for letting me into your homes every Sunday,” Kelce said. “It has always been a goal of mine to play all of my career in one city. And I couldn’t have found a better one if I tried.

Kelce contemplated retirement each of the five previous offseasons, deciding each time that he didn’t want to call it quits until he had his post-football plans wrapped up. But Kelce seems certain to stay in the public eye, with his podcast and a possible broadcasting career ahead of him. A standout playing career is over, though.

“That’s all I got,” Kelce said at the end of his announcement, standing up to hug his family sitting in the front row.