Enduring Eagle: Longtime Philly Center Kelce Officially Retires

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles star center Jason Kelce, one of the key leaders for a team that has made six postseason appearances and two Super Bowl trips over the past seven seasons, announced his retirement in a tear-filled speech Monday, closing the book on a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

"I've been asked many times why did I choose football -- what drew me to the game -- and I never have an answer that gets it right," Kelce, wearing a sleeveless Eagles T-shirt, said during a 45-minute speech that he had to stop many times as he was overtaken by emotion. "The best way I could explain it is what draws you to your favorite song ... your 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 had ever felt. There was a visceral feeling with football, unlike any sport. The hairs on my arms would stand up. I could hit somebody, run around like a crazed lunatic and then get told, 'Good job.' I love football."

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A sixth-round draft selection in 2011, Kelce, 36, played his entire 13-year career with the Eagles. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls in 13 seasons and was named first-team All-Pro for the sixth time in 2023 -- proof that he played at an elite level up to his final snap.

"It has always been a goal of mine to play my whole career in one city," Kelce said. "I couldn't have dreamt a better one if I tried."

Since the 1970 merger, he is the only center who has won a Super Bowl and earned first-team All-Pro honors six times.

Kelce's parents, Ed and Donna, were in attendance, as was his wife Kylie and brother Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs' star tight end who was wearing sunglasses inside the auditorium.

Kelce had contemplated retirement at various points over the past several years, but it became clear that things would be different this time around when, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, he told teammates his playing days were over after the wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January.

"If it was his last game, he was one of the best teammates I've ever had," right tackle Lane Johnson said then. "A guy whose passion is unmatched. A guy who I saw Philly try to run him out of town. I saw a guy emerge from that and become the best center maybe that's ever played."

Kelce is the fifth center in NFL history with at least six All-Pro selections. The other four -- Jim Otto, Bulldog Turner, Dermontti Dawson and Jim Ringo -- are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Little was made of Kelce's arrival when he was selected in the sixth round of the 2011 draft. A walk-on running back at Cincinnati who converted to guard and later center, he was undersized and overshadowed by the big "Dream Team" free agency splash signings of cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, quarterback Vince Young and others that year -- a group that famously flamed out.

Kelce, meanwhile, won the starting center job and became a mainstay even as his head coaches changed from Andy Reid to Chip Kelly to Doug Pederson to Nick Sirianni.