Jason Kelce Tearfully Announces His Retirement From NFL After 13 Seasons
NFL star Jason Kelce, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, broke down in tears as he announced his retirement from the league after 13 seasons and one memorable Super Bowl win.
Jason Kelce is officially hanging up his football helmet.
After 13 seasons in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles center has announced that he’s retiring.
“I look back on a career filled with ups and downs,” he said during a tearful press conference March 4, before reflecting on the 2011 NFL Draft. “I won’t forget the call I got from Andy Reid and my father rushing into the room, as tears rushing down his eyes that his son had been achieving his dream.”
Two years later, Jason recalled, his brother Travis Kelce would get a similar call from Reid—who’d moved to the Kansas City Chiefs—achieving his own football dream.
Jason—who credited his bond with Travis for making him stronger and teaching him loyalty—went on to thank his teammates for the memories, both on and off the field.
This retirement announcement comes nearly two months after the Eagles lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Jan. 15’s Wild Card round game.
“[Jason’s] special and I love him,” coach Nick Sirianni told reporters after his team’s defeat. “He’s one of the most special guys I’ve been around. He’s always got a place here.”
At the start of 2024, Jason admitted that he’d yet to make a decision about his future in the NFL.
“I think you have to look after everything is said and done,” he said on the WIP Morning Show Jan. 3, “and really grasp where you’re at.”
“You just go through the season,” Jason added. “You think about that afterwards. That’s the healthiest way to do it.”
The 36-year-old was a member of the Eagles for his entire professional football career, having been selected by the team in the sixth round of 2011 NFL Draft. And throughout his time in the league, the Ohio native became a seven-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, helping his team secure the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2018.
(Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)Now, as Jason closes the chapter on his NFL career, he’s also beginning a new one with his family, including wife Kylie Kelce and daughters Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 2, and Bennett, 12 months.
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)“I always tell people that no matter what happens with football, how it ends,” Kylie said in Jason’s 2023 Kelce documentary, “I would like him to retire when he’s still able to get down on the floor and play with our kids comfortably.”
As Jason’s post-NFL journey kicks off, take a look back at his love story with Kylie…
Instagram/@kykelce2015
Jason Kelce doesn’t want you to know he met his wife Kylie Kelce on a dating app. Too bad she wasn’t afraid to reveal how their relationship began in the Prime Video Kelce documentary.
“Jason won’t let me lie about this,” Kylie shared. “We met on Tinder.”
When Kylie first encountered Jason’s profile, she didn’t recognize the Philadelphia Eagles center, explaining, “None of his pictures showed Eagles football.”
However, after she and her friends thought he looked “kind of familiar,” they did what millennial women do best: A Google image search. And when Kylie put a name to the face, she was confident she was being played.
“It can’t be him,” she remembered thinking,...
