After 13 Seasons Of Cementing His Legacy As One Of The Greatest Eagles Ever, Jason Kelce Is Retiring
No matter how disgusted you are with the 2023 Philadelphia Eagles, nobody within that organization deserves your respect more than Jason Kelce. This man gave everything he had to the city of Philadelphia over the past 12 years. There have been plenty of great athletes who have played for the teams in this city, but never really gave a shit about the city itself. There have been players who have really bought in to the community of Philadelphia, but were never really that great to be memorable.
Jason Kelce is one of the all-time greats. He's a Hall-of-Famer. He's a 6x all-pro. He has spent years as one of the best centers in football. He's a Super Bowl Champion. And this man loves the city of Philadelphia with a passion that only comes with truly immersing yourself within the people. 13 years of being one of the most important people to ever come through this city.
It's a goddamn shame this is the way it had to end. It seems like we've had the conversation every year for the past 4 or 5 of "is Jason Kelce going to be coming back next year". We knew this day was inevitably going to come, but not like this. When he decided to return after losing the Super Bowl last year, everything seemed like it was lining up for a storybook Last Dance. One more run at another ring. The Eagles thought they had had the roster to do it, they thought they had the coach to do it, and they thought they had the momentum to do it. And they were doing it for a little while there. But somewhere along the line, shit hit the fan and now the final image we have of Jason Kelce in an Eagles uniform is being brought to tears after a violently disgusting effort against Tampa.
I'm not saying that Jason Kelce didn't play a role in this as well. You can tell this season has been weighing on him more than any season ever. You had all the talk around the league about the Tush Push. You had the podcast blowing up with Travis starting to date Taylor Swift and then dealing with all the extra shit that goes along with that. And then obviously you had the Eagles falling into quicksand and never being able to climb their way out. It had to be the most exhausting season he's ever experienced, and I wouldn't necessarily say all of that falls on the Eagles' staff.
But a lot of it does. And that's what should make everybody in this city sick the most. That an all-time great had the final image of his career being blown the fuck out by Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round in a season when they had hopes of letting Jason Kelce ride off into the sunset with another Super Bowl ring. A complete and total organizational failure.
We'll have more time to look back on the career of Jason Kelce and remember all the highlights. Maybe not 12 hours after one of the most disgusting collapses in Philly sports history. But for now, it's nothing but thank you's to Jason Kelce for giving us everything he had for all those years. A tough ending, for sure, but an incredible career. And we'll remember the career way more than we remember 2023.
Never forget.