Eagles center Jason Kelce reportedly told his teammates in the locker room that he was retiring after the Eagles’ loss to the Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card game, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Still, there’s yet to be an official statement from Kelce himself.
Then, last night, Sunday, January 28th, Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer caught up with the Eagles center after the AFC championship, where Jason’s brother Travis and his Kansas City Chiefs edged out the Baltimore Ravens to earn yet another Super Bowl appearance. The Eagles vet shed some light on his current thought process as he weighs his options over the offseason. He certainly doesn’t rule out coming back, either.
Kelce told Reiner, “As a Philadelphia Eagle, incredibly disappointing season, especially at the end of it, and I really, really look forward to next year. I look forward to trying to prove people wrong, especially with some of the recent hires and Nick Sirianni. And there’s a lot of things up in the air for the Philadelphia Eagles. But I think that, as a player, you always look forward to go into battle with your guys.”
Though Kelce Wants to Continue to be Close to the Game, He Might Not Do that in a Uniform
Amidst congratulating Chiefs players after his brother’s win, Jason also went on to say, “You watch this and the emotion is so high. It feels so great being here on this field right now for your teammates and for the guys that are going to get an opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl. These are emotions. And these are situations that you don’t get unless you continue to go…”
It’s at this point in the interview that his line of thought seems to take a turn and shows he might still be weighing retirement seriously.
Kelce then says,“…I don’t know what’s going to happen for me. But I do know, I still want to be involved in the organization and still want to be a part of it, regardless of what the decision is. Because I don’t want to ever feel like I’m on the outside looking in on these achievements and these accolades and these opportunities that largely represent entire cities and fan bases and organizations. It’s too good a feeling to pass up.”
The Eagles Pro Bowler wraps up the interview saying he’s excited to watch his brother compete for the Super Bowl in Vegas, still leaving fans to wonder where he will land going into 2024, but it’s clear the door isn’t completely shut on a comeback.
If Kelce Does Retire the Eagles Have a Backup Plan in Place
In CBS Sports’ latest mock draft, Josh Edwards has the Philadelphia Eagles taking offensive tackle Jordan Morgan of Arizona University. The short writeup with projected pick lays out the Eagles’ plan pretty clearly.
The summary says, “Philadelphia is likely to lose Jason Kelce this offseason, but it has been preparing for that inevitability. The team has drafted Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens over the past two years. An opening at guard could be created with all of the re-shuffling. Jordan Morgan has played left tackle but also has the profile to move inside.”
Edwards obviously liked Morgan’s versatility, but also nailed what the Eagles have likely seen coming for a few years now. When dealing with a big loss like this would be, it also doesn’t hurt that they had the top rated offensive line coming into 2023.
Toward the end of Reiner’s piece, she writes, “Jason started all 17 games for the Eagles, setting a new franchise record with 156 consecutive regular-season starts, all the while continuing to serve as a mentor to younger players such as first-time starting right guard Cam Jurgens.”
Jurgens would likely move to center in Edwards’ scenario and it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that if he were to retire Kelce would be involved in some way coaching up these youngsters for the next generation of Eagles’ elite offensive line play.
