Jason Kelce Reveals His Biggest Disappointment About Retiring

After weeks of deliberation, Jason Kelce announced on Monday that he had made a final decision to retire from the NFL after spending his entire 13-season career in Philadelphia, breaking the hearts of Eagles fans everywhere. It certainly wasn’t a decision that the 36-year-old took lightly, as he opened up in the latest episode of his New Heights podcast alongside his brother, Travis Kelce. 

But his biggest regret about leaving the team behind is something that most fans can no doubt resonate with. During the 2023-24 season, the Eagles were highly-favored to make it to the Super Bowl after putting up a 10–1 record, only to lose five out of six regular season games and then flame out to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32–9 in the Wild Card playoff game on Jan. 15.

“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,” Kelce lamented. “Not potentially, probably the most.”

“And the reason I say that I’m upset about that is—I really truly think the Eagles are going to ball out next year. I think, all of those guys, there’s still a tremendous amount of talent there,” he explained. “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,” Kelce continued, noting that Eagles Executive Vice President Howie Roseman is going work on improving the things that need to get fixed heading into next season.

“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,” he 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,” he added. “That is one thing I’m really upset about the timing of, but it is what it is. It’s just—I’ll have to enjoy it in a different way.”

Suffice to say, whatever Kelce has in store for him, it seems clear that he’ll have the support of Philadelphia behind him.