UPDATE: After 13 seasons, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce officially announced his retirement from the NFL.
“I have been asked repeatedly why did I select football — what drew me to the game — and I never have a solution that gets it right,” Kelce said during a press conference in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. “The easiest way I could explain it’s what draws you to your favorite song … your favorite book. It’s what it makes you are feeling. The seriousness of it. The intensity of it.”
Though his potential retirement had been alluded to following the Eagles’ Wild Card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 25, Kelce had remained vague about the decision until making it official on Monday.
He also took to X to verify that he had made a final decision on the status of his profession.
No Keg videos this yr, I actually have make a decision and can address it at a press conference this afternoon.
— Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) March 4, 2024
During his time in the NFL, Kelce won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles, was chosen for the Pro Bowl seven times, and was named first-team All-Pro six times. The Center played the entirety of his profession with the Eagles, something he takes great pride in.
“It has at all times been a goal of mine to play my whole profession in a single city,” Kelce said. “I could not have dreamt a greater one if I attempted.”
The unique story from January 18 is below.
It is perhaps the end of an era for popular Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce, who reportedly announced his retirement to teammates following the Birds’ disappointing exit from the NFL playoffs on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kelce, who didn’t confirm his retirement publicly, has spent his entire 13-year NFL profession in Philly — and he’s still warming the hearts of the people in the city who love him the most.
On Wednesday, Kelce drove to his local McDonald’s in Broomall, Pennsylvania and ordered a sausage, egg and cheese and paid a visit to an worker, Danielle Bonham.
Bonham, an enormous Kelce fan, has served the NFL player his breakfast order and snapped selfies with him on multiple occasions during his drive-thru visits.
During Wednesday’s visit, Kelce surprised Bonham by signing a Kelly green Eagles jersey and giving it to her while paying for his order.
“I’m endlessly grateful and really fortunate to have crossed paths with him as repeatedly as I did, and I just wish him nothing but the best,” Bonham told local outlet FOX 29.
Fans of Kelce and residents of his now-hometown of Havertown, Pennsylvania, were enamored by his kind act amid sadness following the rumors that he was departing the league.
“For this reason I like him,” one person wrote on Instagram. “He’s just so humble it’s HARD not to love him.”
“Just once we thought we were done crying,” one other said.
The identical day, Kelce took to his podcast “Recent Heights” together with his brother and fellow NFL star, Travis Kelce, to make clear that he had not yet made any public announcement or decision regarding the way forward for his NFL profession.
“I didn’t announce what I used to be doing on purpose despite, I suppose, what’s been leaked to the media,” Kelce said. “I just don’t think you are ready after a game like that to essentially make that call. I just don’t. There’s an excessive amount of emotion in the moment to essentially fully grasp that call.”
Kelce added that when he makes an announcement or decision, he plans to achieve this “in a way that is definitive and pays respect to lots of individuals which have meant rather a lot to me and has led to the profession I’ve had.”
The Philadelphia Eagles finished the season with an 11-6 record.