Jason Kelce is flying out on a high.
The 36-year-old Philadelphia Eagles center sobbed as he announced his retirement from the NFL after 13 seasons on Monday.
“Not a good start,” he joked through tears, before detailing visceral memories of playing football as a kid, as well as the hardships he went through to make it as a professional athlete.
Kelce also took time to thank everyone who has helped him along the way, including his parents, Donna and Ed Kelce, his brother, Travis Kelce, and his wife, Kylie Kelce, who were all holding back tears from the audience.
“There is no chance I would be here without the bond Travis and I share,” Jason said while remembering how he and his brother, who is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, pushed each other over the years.
“It was really my brother and I our whole lives,” he said. “We did almost everything together — competed, fought, laughed, cried and learned from each other. We invented games, imagine ourselves as star players of that time.
“We envisioned making winning plays day after day. 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.”
The now-retired athlete continued to wipe away tears as he recalled meeting Kylie in a bar and how proud he is to now be the father of three daughters.
“This all brings us here to today where I announce I am retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles,” he said at the end of the speech. “And today I must admit I am officially overrated. Vastly overrated. It took a lot of hard work and determination getting here.”
“Thank you, Philadelphia, from the bottom of my heart,” he concluded. “It has truly been a privilege. You have all been good to me and my family … I don’t know what’s next but I look forward the new challenges and lessons that await.”
Jason was the Eagles’ sixth-round pick in the 2011 draft, and he spent his entire career with the team.
He won a Super Bowl ring in 2018 and has seven Pro Bowls under his belt.
Jason memorably helped lead his team to the 2023 Super Bowl, which the Eagles lost to his brother Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-35.
Speculation that Jason was hanging up his cleats first emerged in January after the Eagles’ season-ending loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He told his teammates in the locker room after the game that he was retiring, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“He has considered retiring after other recent seasons, but this time is said to be real and happening,” the sports reporter tweeted.
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Jason was visibly upset following his team’s loss and even appeared to be crying when cameras cut to him on the sidelines.
“That looks like a man filled with emotion right now,” commentator Troy Aikman said during the broadcast.
He walked off the field toward his wife, Kylie, who stood in the front row with his father.
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Eagles player Lane Johnson also told reporters that Jason had “hinted” to teammates that 2023-24 was his final season.
“I love him. He’s one of the best to ever play the game,” Johnson said.
“The things he can do on the football field athletically — I don’t think we’ll see another one like him for a long time.”
In March 2023, the father of three announced his decision to “return for another year after talking it over with my wife and many other friends and family.”
“I have put much thought into whether it makes sense to play another season… Thank you to all my supporters and detractors for fueling me, I ain’t f–king done yet,” he tweeted at the time.
Jason and Kylie are parents to three girls: Wyatt Elizabeth, 4, Elliotte Ray, 2, and Bennett Llewellyn, 1.
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