Rumour has it that Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce is retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons of playing professional football.
The football star held back tears on Monday as the Eagles lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL playoffs (32-9), eliminating them from the chance to once again clinch the Super Bowl in February.
He was seen rushing towards his family, visibly emotional, telling the media when asked for comment, “No guys, not today.”
Sources report that the decorated NFL player, who helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl in 2018 and supported their ascension to the grand final in 2023 (only to lose to his brother Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs), took his teammates aside after the game to inform them of his retirement.
While the star is yet to make an official declaration to the public, the news of his retirement is not a complete surprise to Eagles supporters. His documentary Kelce premiered on September 12, 2023, detailing the Eagles’ 2023 journey to the Super Bowl. In it, he spoke extensively of the toll football was taking on his health and family life.
“It’s getting harder and harder to play,” Kelce said, tearing up. “There have been little things that are not big things yet but are going to turn into big things the longer I play.”
There are also multiple scenes of Kelce playing poker and hanging out with other ex-NFL legends, talking about the transition from professional sportsman to ‘average joe’.
Kelce has remained strong despite being plagued by injuries throughout his career. In 2012, he tore his MCL and partially teared the ACL, doing the MCL again in 2018. He also had sprains to his foot, elbow and shoulder.
“Every logical thing is telling me I should stop playing football,” Jason added in Kelce. “I’ve got to tear my body apart.”
Jason Kelce is married to Kylie Kelce and has three children, Wyatt, Elliotte and Bennett. Bennett was born shortly after the 2023 Super Bowl, with Kylie heavily pregnant at the event and her obstetricians fearing that she could go into labour any minute with the stress of the game.
Kylie was much more upfront in the documentary saying, “I don’t think that people realize the beating you’re taking then impacts the way you interact with your family.” She said that Jason had talked of retiring “for years” but after losing the Super Bowl, he had a hunger to try again.
“I always tell people, no matter what happens with football, how it ends, I would like him to retire when he is still able to get down on the floor and play with our kids comfortably,” Kylie said in Kelce.
It’s an interesting time for Jason to retire. While his football career may be winding down, his public profile has only grown over the years. He hosts the New Heights podcast alongside his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who recently started dating megastar singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
The relationship has catapulted the Kelce’s, who have always been a beloved family among the football community in the United States, to international acclaim and attention. It has also opened up a whole new demographic of people who are interested in Kelce’s personal life.
This wide-ranging appeal has likewise brought in a number of brand deals of late. He appeared alongside his brother and mother in a campaign for Campbell’s Soup, featured in a Minted holiday card and appeared alongside his Eagles teammates in a Tide laundry commercial.
He also recently got his first billboard hit alongside Travis Kelce, with the brothers releasing a cover of “Fairytale of New York” as a charity single. The album the single was on made it to number two in the charts, blocked only by Swift’s own 1989 (Taylor’s Version) re-release.
We will need to wait and see if Kelce confirms the rumours are true, or if in fact, the NFL community just “need to calm down”.
