Kelce still undecided … but hints about his future

[time2rock]

Kelce still undecided … but hints about his future

 

After the Eagles lost badly to the Bucs in the playoffs last month, legendary center Jason Kelce had one prevailing thought.

"Man, is that really going to be my last game in the NFL?” Kelce recalled on 94WIP with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie on Friday.

Then Kelce added that unless you win the Super Bowl, every season ends on a sour note.

Kelce, 34, has been very upfront in recent years about his NFL future. It’s a year-to-year thing. For the past several years, Kelce has taken some time after each season to decide whether or not he wants to return.

On Friday, Kelce said he’s still undecided but he might have given a hint about that future.

"I think the competitive side really wants to keep playing,” he said. "There’s no question about that. But it is getting harder every single year and the league has changed so much. I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep playing this long if Wednesdays weren’t significantly scaled down, if we were hitting every single day. That’s why a lot of these guys are going to play for much longer than guys have ever played.

"So we’ll see. I think, to answer your question, I want to. But I gotta make sure it’s the smart thing to do and that I still can do that and be a good teammate, a good leader and a good player. As long as I can do all three of those, then I’m definitely coming back.”

That sounds like it could be very good news for the Eagles, especially for head coach Nick Sirianni, who last month said he sent Kelce a couple kegs of beer, hoping to get him to return.

If Kelce returns, the Eagles will need to figure out a new contract because his current one has a poison pill to make sure there’s a decision made one way or the other. But figuring out a contract shouldn’t be too hard. The Eagles will need to pay Kelce a considerable salary but he’s still worth every penny and it’s hard to imagine the Eagles would fuss.

Because while he’s well into his 30s now, Kelce is still the same dominant player he’s been for a long time. He made his fifth Pro Bowl roster this past season and his fourth All-Pro team. Those credentials have a really good chance of putting him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.

Another year of that could continue to help build his Hall of Fame case, but Kelce made it clear that’s not a motivating factor for him. He explained the Hall of Fame chatter with his normal humility.

"It’s hard to imagine being in that type of company as a player,” he said. "Because to me a Hall of Fame player is somebody that is scheme-independent. Like, this dude is so good that he can go out there, it doesn’t matter who the coach is, it doesn’t matter who’s playing next to him, he’s going to go out there and dominate. And that’s never been me. But I do have a skillset when used is very, very, it’s just different. And it’s allowed us to have success and it’s allowed me to have success. When I play next to great players and have great coaches, I play really well. But I don’t know if that’s indicative of a Hall of Fame player.”

The rest of Philadelphia disagrees with him on that.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-jason-kelce-weighing-return-vs-retirement

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I think he'll come back but I think a lot will depend on what the team does in the off season. If he feels they are building and building for the future he might decide to call it a day. 

[PoconoDon]

He'll be back.