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Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce officially announced his retirement after 13-years in the NFL. The a six-time All-Pro center, future Hall of Famer played his entire career with the Philadelphia Eagles after being drafted by the team in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Kelce, 36, posted on X early Monday morning that his decision was forthcoming, after having mulled over the issue for more than a year.
Kelce, who has seven Pro Bowl selections, six first-team All-Pro selections and one Super Bowl title under his list of career accomplishments, make his announcement during a press conference at the Philadelphia Eagles Training Center at the NovaCare Complex. Kelce shared in part: “So, this all brings us here to today, where I announce that I am retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles .. And today I must admit, I am officially overrated. Vastly overrated. It took a lot of hardwork and determination getting here. I have been the underdog my entire career, and I mean this when I say it, I wish I still was. Few things give me such joy as proving someone wrong.” Kelce reminisced about his love of the game when he was a child in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, saying: “Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt .. It was a visceral feeling with football unlike any other sport.”
An emotional Kelce later thanked his wife, Kylie, mother Donna, brother Travis Kelce and numerous coaches, teammates and “cafeteria workers” along the way, before concluding by thanking the city of Philadelphia: “It has always been a goal of mine to play my whole career in one city. I couldn’t have dreamt a better one and a better fit if I tried. I don’t know what’s next, but I look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that await, and I know that I carry with me the lessons for my time here and that forever we shall all share the bond of being Philadelphians.”
After the announcement, the Eagles paid tribute to Kelce on social media, posting: ‘The greatest to ever do it 
Congratulations on an incredible NFL career, Jason Kelce,’ and also sharing a video montage captioned: ‘To the GOAT. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’
Kelce showed no signs of declining in his final season — in 2023, he selected as a first-team All-Pro for the sixth time in his career, becoming the only center since the merger to earn six first-team All-Pro selections and a Super Bowl title. Kelce is the fifth center in NFL history with that many All-Pro selections. Kelce allowed just one sack and 12 pressures on the season, with a pressure rate per dropback of 1.9% in 2023, coming off a career year in 2022 in which he allowed zero sacks, eight pressures, and a 1.3% pressure rate allowed per dropback.
After the end of the Eagles’ season where they lost a wild-card playoff game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kelce’s long-speculated decision to retire became more evident after he was shown emotionally hugging his longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. But despite reports that Kelce had announced his intention to retire to teammates following the game, he later clarified that he had not made a decision at the time. During his New Heights podcast earlier in January, he shared with brother Travis what he said to his fellow teammates following that final game: “I did address the team and pretty much said, ‘I [believe] in every single one of you guys. Cherish your moments in this league.’ That’s kind of the way it went down. A lot of guys [said], ‘If that’s your last game, I feel sorry for you.’ Don’t feel sorry for me, mother——- Well either way, I truly appreciated everybody in that room, and I’d go to war with them any day of the week… Enjoy the time you got.”
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