The rout of the Philadelphia Eagles ended abruptly on Monday evening at the conclusion of the first playoff weekend in the NFL as the Tampa Bay Bucs defeated the finalists of the last Super Bowl in a one-sided game unique to the great pleasure of fans gathered at Raymond James Stadium.
A score of 32 to 9 will ultimately be the score of the last defeat of the campaign for a team which had great aspirations when we go back to the start of the season.
Except that the Eagles’ biggest loss, following this disappointing end of the season, will be that of the star center player Jason Kelce.
Six-time All-Pro and future Hall-of-Fame center Jason Kelce told his Eagles’ teammates in Monday night’s postgame locker room that he is in fact retiring, per league sources.
The 36-year-old Kelce became visibly emotional at the end of the Eagles’ 32-9 loss to the Buccaneers. He… pic.twitter.com/GofAAlFtUd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
January 16, 2024
It was in the air all week that the eldest of the Kelce brothers had retirement on his mind at the age of 36. In his words, his calm and apparent serenity after a career which will undoubtedly open the doors to the Hall of Fame in Canton.
We saw him very emotional on the sidelines at the end of the match Monday evening as the seconds ticked away towards his team’s inevitable defeat.
Jason Kelce deserved better pic.twitter.com/4rMxYOSuSJ
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly)
January 16, 2024
The star center would have confirmed to his teammates, after the match in the locker room, that this time it was the right one by talking about his possible retirement.
Sixth round pick of the Eagles in the 2011 draft, although he was considered too small for his position at the time, Jason Kelce established himself as the best center player of his generation and, even at the end of his career, he earned his sixth nomination to the NFL’s First Team All Pro.
A Super Bowl champion in 2017, Kelce has become a fixture on the Eagles and one of the most popular players in the organization’s history.
His speech during the parade of champions is still well imprinted in the memory of NFL fans.
#Eagles C Jason Kelce retires from the NFL with one thing that will never go away: He’ll always have the greatest Super Bowl parade speech ever.
This will never get old.
pic.twitter.com/X7RtoTF6FZ https://t.co/kq0aG5S57s
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate)
January 16, 2024
For the past few years, Kelce has been preparing for life after the NFL while helming the podcast New Heights with his brother Travis in addition to lending his comforting voice to Christmas carols to reach out to the most disadvantaged.
The fans would have preferred to see Kelce take his final turn with a smile after a triumph, but fate will have been different for the friendly colossus named sexiest man on the planet by People magazine in 2023.
2024-01-16 13:02:00
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