Jason Kelce was reportedly tired both mentally and physically all season, with the Philadelphia Eagles center expected to retire this year.
Kelce, 36, reportedly told his Eagles teammates he is retiring after Philadelphia was eliminated from the NFL playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
The center, a father of three, strongly considered retirement late last season but decided to return after the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to his brother Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.
However, Kelce is now said to be ready to bring the curtain down on a remarkable 13-year career in the NFL after reportedly struggling to bounce back from this season’s games.
Earlier this season, Kelce admitted that it was becoming increasingly difficult to return to practice on Wednesdays (the equivalent of a Monday for an NFL player), according to the Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Jason Kelce reportedly struggled mentally and physically throughout the season
The Eagles center admitted it was becoming increasingly difficult to return to training on Wednesday
‘Don’t know. I know, I mean, Wednesdays,” Kelce told Hayes when asked if this would be his last season. ‘Wednesdays are getting harder. Really, that’s all.’
He added: “You’re in trouble on Monday, you’re off on Tuesday, but Wednesday…I’m just struggling to get going again on Wednesday. Get the juice, you know?”
But the aches and pains wouldn’t be the only things wearing down the future Hall of Famer, with the report adding that Kelce also “seemed mentally fatigued.”
It appears Kelce was also concerned about the impact of CTE, which often affects NFL stars, especially veterans playing late in their careers.
He reportedly had trouble remembering the date of a teammate’s injury and joked that it was “the CTE creeping in.”
Kelce had considered retiring late last season and filmed his struggle to make a decision, which later became a popular Amazon Prime documentary.
The future Hall of Famer is pictured with Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts (left)
Kelce was famously defeated by brother Travis when the Eagles met the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII
Kelce pictured with wife Kylie and their three daughters Wyatt, Elliotte and Bennett
Ultimately, he decided to keep playing and signed a one-year contract with the Eagles for this season, but was set to become a free agent in March.
But this time it looks like he’s walking away for good, and Kelce seemed overcome with emotion in the final few seconds of his team’s awful 32-9 loss to the Bucs.
The Super Bowl winner, six-time All-Pro and future Hall-of-Fame winner turned and hugged offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland as the clock ticked toward zero.
Jason, the older brother of Kansas City Chiefs star Travis, then had an emotional but brief reunion with his family on the field – with his father, Ed and wife Kylie cheering him on from the front row of the stands.
He waved to them both as he left the pitch and was filmed breaking down in tears during his long and lonely walk back to the dressing room.
Kelce politely declined to speak to the media in the locker room after the game — he usually speaks whether the Eagles win or lose — and left the stadium for what appears to be the last time in his career.
It appears to be a sad end to a career in which he will go down in history as one of the game’s greats.
The center won the Super Bowl in 2018 and was famously defeated by his brother last season as the Eagles met the Chiefs in the NFL’s showpiece.
Kelce walked over to see his wife Kylie and father Ed in emotional scenes in Tampa Bay
Kelce politely declined to speak to the media afterward, a duty he normally performs after the game
Kelce was drafted by the Eagles in 2011 after playing college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and has spent his entire career in Philadelphia.
In the lead-up to the Bucs game, he accepted that his future would become a topic of conversation as the NFL season approached its home stretch.
“I think it’s come naturally to me the last three seasons,” Kelce said Friday.
“As you get older in your career, you never know when that will be.
“I try to remind the guys, and my dad has told me this from the time I started playing football, if you step off the sidewalk one day, it could be the end of your career.
“So you try to approach every game with that mentality, but the closer and older you get to that realization, the more it comes to the fore.
‘But that is of course not the most important thing. The most important thing is to go out there and compete with all the guys in this locker room.”
