Jason Kelce has not hidden from the fact that the possibility of retirement has been on his mind the last few years, and that the game has taken a toll on him physically.
But at the midway point of this season, the veteran center is holding up fine enough.
The Eagles captain is in Year 13, and playing in the trenches at all, let alone for as long as Kelce has, will do a number on a guy. Kelce’s documentary, in particular, shed some light on the physical impact an NFL season has on him.
Despite flirting with calling it a career, Kelce came back this season and has started all eight games so far. He told the 94WIP Morning Show on Wednesday that physically he’s holding up OK.
“I feel pretty good if I’m being honest,” Kelce said. “I’ve been very lucky – I want to keep knocking on wood – but I haven’t had anything major pop up. It gets harder a little bit with – every year, things add up and it gets harder to recover. That’s the biggest thing with getting older that I’ve noticed. Recovering from the games or getting to your best on gameday and getting prepared, those are the things that become harder with age that are the most apparent.”
Kelce and defensive lineman Brandon Graham are the elder statesmen in Philly, with both in their mid-30s and career Eagles.
Playing in Philly, Kelce believes, has helped their longevity.
“I’m very fortunate, the Eagles are beyond ahead of the curve in terms of taking care of guys, making sure guys’ bodies are ready for gameday," Kelce said. "And to be quite honest, I still feel on gameday that I’m ready to go, that I’m at my peak. And it hasn’t had that drop-off yet. So, I’m very happy with where I’m at physically, and a lot of that credit is owed to the strength and conditioning department, Ted Rath and the Philadelphia Eagles for putting these programs in place for not just me, but other older guys.
“I think it’s probably because I threaten retirement to some extent every year and everybody kind of thinks I’m the old guy, Brandon Graham has been here a whole year longer than me. He just doesn’t complain about it. BG, they take care of the old guys, and it’s allowed us to extend our careers, in my opinion, by a number of years. I really can’t understate how appreciative we are of those guys.”