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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jason Kelce has retired after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 36-year-old Kelce officially retired Monday at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex, ending a career in which he not only became one of the great centers of his era, but also played a key role in the franchise’s only Super Bowl championship. Played. Beloved Philly personality and popular podcast host.
“We’ll 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 a news conference in which His parents, Ed and Donna, and brother Travis were included. Wearing sunglasses inside the auditorium.
Kelce needed 45 minutes to recount his career from his childhood in Ohio to his final days with the Eagles through tears, laughter and thanks to his biggest influences before he finally announced that He is retiring.
“I’ve been a weakling my entire career,” he said. “And I mean that when I say that, I still wish I was like that.”
Kelce was a sixth-round pick in the 2011 draft. The burly, bushy-haired and bearded Kelce has been a stalwart of the offensive line since he was drafted and has become something of an Iron Man after missing most of the 2012 season with a partially torn MCL and a torn ACL. in the form of.
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The moment that made him a lifelong darling of the Philly faithful came in the Super Bowl parade after the 2017 season when he dressed as one of Philadelphia’s famous Mummers, and the ultimate underdog delivered a fiery, profane Gave a speech that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“Nobody likes us! Nobody likes us! Nobody likes us! It doesn’t matter to us.” Kelce shouted That day in February 2018. “We’re from Philly! (expletive) Philly. Nobody likes us! We don’t care!”
Kelce recalled the moment on Monday, saying: “I will never forget the parade and what it meant to the city of Philadelphia. “The joy in our community and the closure brought joy to a lot of people.”
“That wasn’t my speech,” Kelsey said. “It was from Philadelphia.
Kelce is the older brother of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The two played each other in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, which the Chiefs won — “I’ll never forget losing to the Chiefs,” Jason said Monday — and co-hosted a podcast. Jason attended the Chiefs playoff game in the frigid temperatures of Buffalo in this season’s playoffs. Sitting in a suite with Travis’ girlfriend, Taylor Swift, he took off his shirt and drank beer.
It was the Jason Kelce way.
He’s been a showman off the football field, singing the national anthem at 76ers games, partying with the Phillie Phanatic and downing beers to loud applause at Phillies postseason games.
But it was his work on the offensive line that made him a star. Kelce finished his career with 156 consecutive runs and earned six points. All-Pro Team Selection.
He was one of Philadelphia’s key four stars, who have experienced droughts and championship runs, multiple coaches and the worst collapse in the city’s sports history. Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham are the only holdovers from former coach Andy Reid’s last season with the Eagles in 2012. Lane Johnson completes the four experienced anchors and was a rookie in former coach Chip Kelly’s first season in 2013.
Kelsey is the first one to call it quits.
Sirianni further enhanced Kelce’s lore by sending a keg of beer to Kendra’s home to entice him to return in 2022.
“No keg video this year,” Kelce wrote Monday morning. social media,
Instead, he cited a long list of mentors, including his high school football, hockey and lacrosse coaches and his old band teachers at Cleveland Heights (Ohio) High School, along with a “furious kid who was full of immaturity, stupidity and ego.” Thank you for staying. ,
He thanked his coaches in Cincinnati for believing he could play center, a fortuitous decision that suited him in Philadelphia, then thanked his four coaches with the Eagles.
Kelce once again cried while thanking Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie for his leadership and general manager Howie Roseman for drafting him. He shared memories of his Eagles career and said he will never forget the day Reid called him to tell him that Kelce had been drafted by the Eagles. Kelsey’s father walked into a room, “with tears streaming down his face”, in the pure joy of that moment.
Kelce played in 193 regular season games for the Eagles.
“It’s always been my goal to play my entire career in one city,” Kelce said. “I couldn’t dream a better dream than this if I tried.”
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