Jason Kelce breaks down crying as he tells the world he is retiring from football
Travis choked back tears as Jason Kelce told the world he is retiring from football in an emotional press conference.
Jason Kelce burst into tears before he started speaking and then finally addressed months of rumors he was leaving his football career behind after 13 years in the NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles center announced the decision with his brother Travis Kelce, wife Kylie and parents Ed and Donna in the audience at the Eagles’ team facility. Clips from the emotional conference showed his brother Travis cried as he listened to his brother.
The center spoke for 45 minutes, remembering his career from childhood, college days at the University of Cincinnati, and his final days with the team.
The celebrity laughed, cried and was extremely grateful to the huge influences in his life, before Jason Kelce mustered up the courage to tell the world he is retiring.
He said: “I have been the underdog my entire career.
“And I mean this when I say it, I still wish I was.”
It was a difficult announcement, he had to pause multiple times as his voice would crack as he tried to hold back the tears.
Rumors Jason Kelce was thinking about retiring emerged when the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month. However, he refused to confirm he would be leaving football. Instead, he pushed his focus to support brother Travis in the lead up to the Super Bowl.
He also considered walking way last year but decided to stay on for another season, and the entire process was captured in the brothers’ Amazon Prime documentary.
Jason brings up going against Travis at the Super Bowl
The 36-year-old also brought up the conflicting emotions he felt when his team went up against brother Travis’ the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl.
He began: “This is where it’s gonna go off the rails.
“I won’t forget falling short to the Chiefs and the conflicting feeling of the heartbreak I had selfishly for myself and my teammates and, at the same time, the amount of pride I had in my brother. He climbed the mountain top once again.
“We have a small family. No cousins. One aunt and one uncle. It was really my brother and I our whole lives. We did almost everything together. Competing, fought, laughed, cried and learned from each other.
“We invented games, imagined ourselves as the star players of that time. We envisioned making the game winning plays, day after day. We won countless Super Bowls in our minds before ever leaving the house. And when we weren’t playing, we were at the other one’s games.
“Butt seated in a long chair or bench, a Capri Sun in our hands that mom had packed, cheering during the game and waiting outside and afterward to celebrate a victory together or offer encouragement after a defeat.
“There is no chance I’d be here without the bond that Travis and I share. It had made me stronger, tougher, smarter and taught me the values of cooperation, loyalty and understanding.”
He pays a beautiful tribute to his wife Kylie
Jason also shouted out his wife Kylie Kelce, saying it was “no coincidence I have enjoyed the best years of my career with Kylie by my side”.
“I still remember the moment she walked through the door. The first instance is burned in my retina, it was like she glided through the opening, an aura around her.
“And then she started talking and I thought, ‘man, is this what love feels like?’ She was beautiful, smart, serious, yet playful. I knew it right away.
“I think it’s no coincidence I have enjoyed the best years of my career with Kylie by my side. Every accolade I have ever received in my life has come with her in my life.
“She has brought the best out of me through love, devotion, support, honesty, intelligence, and of course a swift kick in the a** from time to time. She has also given me three beautiful girls in a life that increasingly brings me more fulfilment off the field than it does on. We’ve had a great run, Ky.”
Jason Kelce’s career with the Philadelphia Eagles
Kelce was a sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati in the 2011 draft, and went on to win the Super Bowl with the team in 2018 against the New England Patriots.
In 2017, at the Super Bowl parade, he gave a rousing speech to fans, dressed as one of Philadelphia’s famed Mummers, telling the crowd there was “no one like us!”
The parade still has a special place in his heart as he brought it up in his speech yesterday.
He said: “I won’t forget the parade and what it meant to the city of Philadelphia. The joy in our community and the closure it gave so many.
“That wasn’t my speech. It was Philadelphia’s.
At the moment of Jason Kelce retiring, he’s made 156 straight starts and earned six All-Pro Team selections.
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