Regardless of when he decides to call it a career, Jason Kelce doesn’t have any plans of leaving the Philadelphia Eagles organization anytime soon.
The Philadelphia Eagles fan base has been buzzing over the last few weeks regarding Jason Kelce’s future with the franchise. The 36-year-old has left fans wondering if a retirement announcement is imminent given his age and the fact that he recently gave an autographed jersey to one of his biggest fans.
While a potential retirement is up in the air, Kelce did discuss his plans for when he hangs up his cleats in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Olivia Reiner. Don’t worry, Eagles fans: even when the All-Pro center decides to call it a career, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
Even though Kelce doesn’t “know what’s going to happen” in terms of his playing future, he told Reiner that his goal is still to “be involved in the [Eagles] organization.” The seven-time Pro Bowl blocker adds that he doesn’t ever want to be left out of any success that the Eagles experience.
“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 isn’t hard to imagine Kelce excelling in an off-field role. He loves the city of Philadelphia and loves being an Eagle more, so you’d have to imagine everything from a coaching job to a brand ambassador role is on the table.
Kelce previously stated that he’ll make his retirement announcement when the time is right. Having said that, he did also tell Reiner that he looks forward to “trying to prove people wrong” next season after a disappointing exit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round.
Kelce did refer to himself in the first person rather than the Eagles as a whole, though, so perhaps one more season as a player is on the table.
While Eagles fans would love for Kelce to work with the team whenever he does retire, there’s no duplicating what he brings to the field. Despite 2023 marking his 13th NFL season, he still suited up in all 17 games while only allowing one sack across 654 pass-block snaps with a total offensive grade of 80.7, per Pro Football Focus. That’s without mentioning how he also set a new franchise record with 156 consecutive regular-season starts.
Time will tell how long Eagles fans must wait to know if Kelce will be back next season. He’s earned the right to take his time after having such a fantastic career thus far, but don’t expect an announcement until sometime after Super Bowl LVIII at the earliest.
