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No wonder Jason Kelce looked impossibly forlorn sitting on a bench behind the Philadelphia Eagles’ sideline as the final minutes ticked away in a 32-9 wild-card playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
Not only was the Eagles’ once-promising season coming to a tortuous though predictable end, but Kelce knew this would be his last NFL game. The six-time All-Pro center, career-long Philadelphia icon, and brother of Taylor Swift’s boyfriend and fellow likely Hall of Famer Travis Kelce, told his teammates in the locker room afterward that he is retiring, according to multiple reports.
When the game ended, Kelce hugged Eagles longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, jogged over to acknowledge his family in the stands and politely told reporters he wasn’t ready to talk to them.
He’d contemplated retirement for at least two years. After rumors swirled that the 2021 season would be his last, Kelce put a video on social media of him pouring a beer from a keg Eagles coach Nick Sirianni had dispatched to help induce him to return.
“I’m definitely not retiring from playing for the Philadelphia Eagles,” he said, as beer foam splattered his beard. “I’m having way too much fun doing that. Looking forward to another year, Philadelphia. To all my teammates, let’s go dominate.”
Kelce again contemplated retirement a year ago after the Eagles lost the Super Bowl to Kansas City (and his brother), talking about how emotional that experience was on his immensely popular “New Heights” podcast.
“The moment I saw Mom is when I got really emotional, because man, it was so awesome,” Jason said. “She was on top of the world for a week. … It was just so cool, man, to see her get to celebrate in that with us. It was an awesome moment. So just happy for her and so happy that she got her moment, Dad got his.
“Ironically, you lose the Super Bowl, and you’re crying after the game, and they’re not tears of sadness. They’re tears of joy.”
Read more: Watching sons play in NFL can be…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/pro-center-jason-kelce-brother-162110954.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-01-16 16:21:10
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