Jason Kelce is ready for retirement after 13 years in the NFL.
“So, this all brings us here to today,” he said during a March 2024 press conference. “Where I announce that I am retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Jason’s family was in attendance at the event. Travis Kelce teared up as he watched his older brother bid farewell to the Eagles organization. The former center gave his brother, their parents, Donna and Ed Kelce and his wife Kylie Kelce, shout-outs in his speech.
The decision came two months after rumors spread that he was going to hang up his jersey following the Eagles loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2024. Following the defeat, Jason shared an emotional moment on the sidelines with Kylie.
In the documentary, Kelce, which was released in September 2023, Jason and Kylie discussed his potential retirement.
“There have been little things … not big things yet but are going to turn into big things the longer I play,” Jason shared in the documentary.
In a confessional, Kylie shared that the injuries that Jason suffers on the field also affect his life at home. The pair share three daughters.
“I don’t think people realize the beating you’re taking then impacts the way you interact with your family,” she explained at the time. “I always tell people that no matter what happens with football, how it ends, I would like him to retire when he’s still able to get down on the floor and play with our kids comfortably.”
Keep scrolling to see what else the Kelce family has said about Jason’s retirement through the years:
Kylie Kelce
“He’s been telling me for years that he was going to retire, and now, we are expecting our third daughter,” Kylie explained in their documentary Kelce.
During her January 2024 appearance on Good Morning America, Kylie shared that she has Jason’s back no matter what he decides to do.
“I think that it would be unhealthy to always be asking, ‘What if? What if I continued? What if I played one more season?'” she said. “I think that whatever he does, he’s going to be successful in.”
Donna Kelce
“You don’t want to tell somebody this is what you should do with your life and your career because it may come back to haunt you later on,” Jason’s mom explained to Fox News in November 2023. “As a parent, you don’t want your children not wanting to talk to you or just to think that you’re interfering too much. I think that’s basically it.”
She continued: “They know the pros and the cons, they’re very aware of how their body feels after the season’s over. They can decide what’s going to be better: having another year out there or not knowing what you want to do. It’s just a personal decision, and nobody can make it for them.”
Ed Kelce
“I don’t think he ever expected to be playing 12 years and in the off season he is wrapped up in those little girls so I don’t know where this will go,” Jason’s dad Ed shared on Ross Tucker’s podcast in February 2023. “There’s a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth right now that says, ‘You gotta get back there and fix this.’”
Nearly a year later, Ed revealed what it would take for him to believe Jason was really hanging up his cleats.
“I’ve always said, Jason will quit when he’s determined that he’s had enough. I think we may be there. I don’t have inside information. He talks as if he’s retiring,” Ed said during a January 2024 appearance on the “Baskin & Phelps” podcast. “As Kylie, his wife says, she’ll believe it when he gets up in front of a podium and announces to everyone, ‘I’m retiring.’ And that’s that. I’ll know he’s retiring when he starts to lose weight.”
Ed explained that linemen like his son are “very health conscious” individuals. “As soon as they decide to retire from the game, they shed a ton of weight,” he added. “Once that happens, you’re not coming back.”
Travis Kelce
“You mention the documentary and how it’s supposed to be a retirement thing, a lot of that footage is from the past three years,” Travis, who is two years younger than Jason, shared on the Pat McAfee Show in September 2023. “He’s been thinking of retiring for a while. But winning helps you stick around. Jason’s still eyeing retirement, but as long as the Eagles are still playing, and are willing to pay him as one of the best Centers in the league, I think he’ll still be.”
After rumors of Jason’s retirement swirled at the end of the 2023 season, Travis shared in January 2024 that he thinks his brother still has “some football left” as long as he wants to keep playing.
