One of the best to ever do it has officially retired from the National Football League, as Jason Kelce ended his 13-year pro career in an emotional press conference on Monday.

The starting center throughout for the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelce had hinted at retirement following the team’s early exit from the playoffs, but waited until the eve of free agency to make it official. That delay naturally led to speculation that, by not handing in his retirement papers to league headquarters, Kelce may be considering backtracking on the idea, perhaps even teeing up a move to join brother Travis in Kansas City as the Chiefs target a Super Bowl ‘three-peat’ before the pair could retire in unison and look forward to a potential double-header Hall of Fame enshrinement.

Kelce Sr’s Hall-worthy resumé not only defied his sixth-round draft selection in 2011, but also obscures the fact that he was a walk-on at university in Cincinnati and felt that he had to outwork everyone in order to succeed.

“As a linebacker, I had no idea what to expect, but scenes from Rudy would often race in my mind,” a tearful Kelce told a packed press conference at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex. “It became apparent immediately that walk-ons would have to fight harder for their opportunities than the rest of the team. I had no stars, no investment from the team or the coaches. I’d have to earn everything, and that’s good, because I had no clue what hard work was yet. Knowing that I had to earn my respect every day made me committed like never before.”

The move to center was a reluctant one — “Offensive line? Never in a million years did I think I’d play that position” — but Kelce quickly made it his own and, despite only being taken with the 191st pick of that 2011 Draft, eventually proved that it was the right decision. The 36-year-old is one of only three centers in NFL history — alongside existing Hall-of-Famers Dermontti Dawson and Mike Webster — to be named an NFL All-Pro at least five times. Kelce retires with six such nominations, adding the accolade to seven Pro Bowl selections. He made 193 appearances for the Eagles, starting 156 consecutive regular-season games and every one of the team’s 12 playoff games, highlighted by Super Bowl success against the New England Patriots at the end of the 2017 season.

“Thirteen seasons in Philadelphia and I look back on a career filled with ups and downs,” Kelce continued, between loud sniffs and pauses to choke back tears, “I won’t forget the call I got from Andy Reid on draft day, and my father rushing into the room with tears streaming down his face as his son’s dreams had just been realised…

“I won’t forget the first time I saw Jason Peters do a one-on-one pass set with Trent Cole and being amazed at the speed, balance, and power I just witnessed. It looked like a grizzly bear wrestling a panther. It was so impressive it made me question if I was good enough to play in this league. I watched the next couple guys go and thought, ‘OK, I can do this.’…

“I won’t forget Chip Kelly’s first game as Eagles head coach against the Washington Redskins. We ran close to 50 plays in the first half. We were so tired, but it didn’t matter, because they couldn’t stop us…

“I won’t forget walking out onto a snowless field before warmups against the Detroit Lions and then walking out of the tunnel to a blizzard. The Lions’ white jerseys blended into the snow so well, I couldn’t see their secondary. [But] it was probably the most fun game of football I’ve ever been in. It felt like we were all kids again that day, just playing in the backyard…

“I won’t forget Nick Foles having the game of his life on the biggest stage possible — and having the biggest dick on the team, going up to Doug Pederson and asking for the Philly Special. And Doug Pederson having the biggest balls in the stadium to say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it’… And Brandon Graham finding a way to stop Tom Brady once. Literally once. And the way the ball hung in the air on that last Hail Mary and how it felt like an eternity. Just looking, no sound registering, completely engulfed in the moment… And the speech that had written itself and one that had symbolised what we had all lived as players, as a team, and as a city. That wasn’t my speech. It was Philadelphia’s…”

Kelce was careful to thank as many of the people who had influenced his career as possible, right from high school up to his last years in the NFL. But he reserved special acknowledgment for one particular individual.

“I saw, first-hand, the wrath of the Eagles fans in the 2016 season — and rightfully so,” he recounted. “I had an awful start to that season, where I was often overpowered, had many holding penalties that cost our team, and looked like one of the worst centers in the league. I was wanted out of town by nearly everyone. And it wasn’t just the fans that wanted me gone: it was nearly everyone in this organisation. That offseason, I heard trade rumours galore and speculation I’d be cut. I imagine, if the Eagles had received a trade offer for a brand new set of washing machines, they may have pulled the trigger. Hell, if I was in charge, I would have pulled the trigger. There’s only one person in this building who still wanted me. And it’s he who I have to thank most for the career I’ve had, that’s Jeff Stoutland.

“No one has been more influential or meaningful to my success on the field in my career than Stout. I think one of the greatest things a human being can give another is belief. This world, life, it can be hard. It can challenge yourself to points of self doubt and that is a dangerous place to be. Well, I am lucky my whole life I have been surrounded by people that have believed in me — my father, my mother, my brother, Paul Longo, Howard Mudd — and, in my darkest hours as a Philadelphian, Stout was the one who believed in me. He was adamant my problems could be fixed with proper technique, fundamentals and work. And work we did.”

As well as coaches and administrators, however, there was no greater love shown by Kelce than that for his family, and brother Travis in particular.
“We have a small family,” he noted, tying to catch the equally-tear-filled eyes of the KC tight end amongst the audience. “No cousins, one aunt, one uncle. It was really my brother and I our whole lives. We did almost everything together: competed, fought, laughed, cried and learned from each other. We invented games, imagined ourselves a star players of that time. We’d envision making the winning plays day after day on Coleridge Road. We won countless Super Bowls in our minds before ever leaving the house.

“And, when we weren’t playing, we were at the other one’s games, butt seated in a lawn chair or on a bench, a Capri Sun in our hand that mom had packed, cheering during the game, and waiting outside afterward to celebrate a victory together or offer encouragement after a defeat. There is no chance I’d be here without the bond Travis and I share. It made me stronger, tougher, smarter… and it taught me the values of cooperation, loyalty, patience and understanding. It’s only too poetic I found my career being fulfilled in the City of Brotherly Love. I knew that relationship all too well.”

Off the field, Kelce enjoyed giving back to the community, both in Philadelphia and around the NFL in general. He was the Eagles’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee in 2021, while his charity efforts ranged from supporting the Eagles Autism Foundation to singing on two Christmas albums as a member of The Philly Specials.

“It is difficult to put into words how much Jason Kelce has meant to everyone in this organisation, to the City of Philadelphia, and to our fans,” Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie said via the team website. “He gave everything he had to all of us for 13 years, and he did it in a way that was truly authentic. Jason was an incredible football player; a future Hall-of-Famer who would have been successful anywhere. But has there ever been a more perfect marriage between a player, a city, and a team?

“His grit and determination, from being a walk-on linebacker at Cincinnati to an undersized sixth-round pick in 2011, are unparalleled. His intelligence and versatility, from starting as a rookie center in a lockout season to thriving under multiple coaches and offensive schemes, set him apart from others at his position. The genuine love and care he showed his coaches, teammates, and staff endeared him to all he worked alongside. The passion and intensity that he poured into everything he did, both on and off the field, made a city fall in love [with him].”

Kelce’s retirement conference coincidentally caused the Eagles to become the most-searched NFL team on Google for the first time since February 2018, the month in which they won the Super Bowl. Searches for ‘Jason Kelce jersey’ shot up after the announcement, pushing the item above any of this season’s previous favourites — Christian McCaffrey, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb and Patrick Mahomes — according to a CNN report citing figures from official NFL e-commerce partner Fanatics.