There’s one aspect of Jason Kelce’s retirement that eats at the future Hall of Fame center.
“The one thing I’m disappointed about retiring right now is I’m retiring when the Eagles had potentially the biggest collapse in the history of the organization. Not potentially, probably the most,” Kelce said Wednesday on the “New Heights” podcast he hosts alongside brother Travis Kelce.
“The reason I say that I’m upset about that is — I really truly think the Eagles are going to ball out next year.”
Kelce’s career ended with the Eagles going from a 10-1 juggernaut with the best odds to win the Super Bowl to being shellacked 32-9 by the Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs to complete their collapse.
Philadelphia lost six of its last seven games, including the playoff defeat, in its quest to return to the Super Bowl for the second straight season.
The once-great Eagles offense did not perform as expected, with quarterback Jalen Hurts regressing, and the defense cycling through coordinators to no avail.
“There’s still a tremendous amount of talent there,” Kelce said. “They’ve hired two really good coaches that are going to be able to offer a new perspective and look at things with a fresh lens.
“I think Jalen Hurts is a tremendous quarterback, I know it wasn’t a good end of the year for him or for anybody on offense, but there’s still so many pieces.”
The Eagles now enter the offseason with plenty of questions, especially since they have a massive hole up front with Kelce not returning.
Philadelphia also is bracing for longtime defensive stalwart Fletcher Cox potentially retiring.
Kelce and Cox have been anchors of the Eagles’ sustained success.
“There’s plenty of cap space,” Kelce said. “I know (general manager) Howie (Roseman) is going to make some moves to improve the things that need to get fixed.”
The collapse and relative roster uncertainty has the Eagles with the eighth-best odds (17/1) at FanDuel to win Super Bowl 2025, and behind fellow NFC Contenders in the 49ers, Cowboys and Lions.
While expectations likely will not be as high for the Eagles entering the 2024 season as they were for this past season, Kelce still believes in his ex-teammates.
“I just really think there is going to be one hell of a bounce back from the Philadelphia Eagles next year, and it really pains me,” Kelce said. “I’ll be part of it in some way. I’m still going down to the facilities and I’m still going to help out any way I can, but I’m also going to be doing other things and I’m not going to be on the field doing it with those guys. But I can damn sure at least appreciate it from afar. That is one thing I’m really upset about the timing of, but it is what it is. I’ll have to enjoy it in a different way.”
