Appreciating Kelce, Fletch and B.G. as end of era approaches

They're three of the best to ever wear an Eagles uniform. And they're all coming back for one last run.

Fletcher Cox re-signed for another year, Jason Kelce decided to play another season and Brandon Graham is under contract for one more year.

Amidst their bid to get younger and healthier and faster, the Eagles are making room for three of their all-time greats.

Graham is heading into his 13th year as an Eagle, Kelce into his 12th and Cox into his 11th.

Three Super Bowl champs. Three future Eagles Hall of Famers. Three legends.

One of the hardest things for any NFL team is figuring out when to cut ties with older players. They’re generally locker room leaders and popular with fans, but they also come with big contracts and often eroding skills.

Kelce is 34, Graham 33 and Cox 31. They’ve all played over 160 games in an Eagles uniform and zero games in any other uniform. 

Only four others have done that - Jerry Sisemore, Randy Logan, Chuck Bednarik and Brent Celek.

There are only eight active position players who’ve played at least 160 career games, all for the same team.

The Eagles have three of the eight.

So the Eagles’ veteran nucleus of Cox, Kelce and Graham is unique in the NFL and in the Eagles' 89-year history. Nobody else has kept three starters together this long.

If each plays 15 games this year – which is possible – they will rank 4th, 6th and 7th in franchise history in games played by the end of the season.

It’s a risk. The Eagles this year will pay Cox and Kelce about $14 million each, and Graham is going into the final year of a three-year, $40 million contract. Kelce is still the best center in the game, but Cox has been declining for a couple years now, and Graham is coming off a torn Achilles. 

Howie Roseman speaks a lot about taking the emotion out of roster decisions, but there’s no question that he and everybody in the organization feels very strongly about all three of these guys, and it’s not easy to say good-bye.

But all three have contracts that expire after this season, and most likely this will be it in Philly for Cox and Graham. How long Kelce remains is up to him, but by the end of this season he’ll be 35, and the day we’re all dreading is getting closer.

Cox is a six-time Pro Bowler, Kelce a four-time all-pro, Graham a first-time Pro Bowl in 2020 in his 10th season.

To find an Eagles team that had three players who had been with the team for 10 years you have to go back nearly 40 years, to 1983 with Harold Carmichael, Sisemore, Logan and Guy Morriss. That was a decade before free agency began and that’s the only other team in franchise history with at least three players who’d been on the roster for 10 years.

The 1955 Eagles were close with Bobby Walston, Bednarik and Pete Pihos, but Pihos played only nine years.

Bottom line is that in a lot of ways the 2022 season will mark the end of an era. 

Kelce, Cox and Graham are the last link to the Andy Reid Era. They survived the ups and downs of Chip Kelly, celebrated the championship run under Doug Pederson and helped ring in a new beginning under Nick Sirianni.

They’ve been a part of five playoff teams and one unforgettable parade. They’ve embraced the city and the franchise.

Cox from 2015 through 2020 was as dominating as any defensive lineman we’ve seen around here since the days of Reggie, Clyde and Jerome. B.G. through the sheer force of his will and determination shed the 1st-round bust tag to become a Pro Bowler. And Kelce is on his way to the Hall of Fame after watching 190 players get drafted ahead of him. 

These guys will be impossible to replace, and the Eagles will be a very different team with a very different personality once they’re gone.

So enjoy Fletch, B.G. and Kelce while they’re still here. Appreciate how they play the game and how they represent the franchise and the city. 

Because the end of an era is just a few months away.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/appreciating-eagles-jason-kelce-fletcher-cox-and-brandon-graham-end-nears