Jason Kelce’s former Philadelphia Eagles teammates Beau Allen and Chris Long offered the center some advice – and warnings – about retirement from the NFL as he continues to deliberate his future.

 

Kelce, 36, is believed to be considering hanging up his cleats after a remarkable 13 years in the league after Philadelphia was eliminated from the NFL playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round this year.

The father-of-three had strongly considered retiring at the end of last season but decided to return after the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to his brother Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.

And as he’s faced with the tough decision once again during the offseason, his former teammates, who he won a Super Bowl with in 2018, warned him about the change of pace.

‘It is different. It’s a little boring,’ said Allen, who officially retired in 2022. ‘You don’t have the intensity of football and that’s something that has been a little bit of an adjustment.’

He added that the lack of a routine – without constant training camps, practice sessions and games – could be a little jarring.

However, the former nose tackle added that there were some positives to retirement, including dramatic weight loss.

‘I’m just trying to live and spend as much time with friends and family, catch up on travel and hang out with you guys at the Super Bowl – just stuff you can’t do when you’re playing because you’re so committed to training and getting your body right,’ Allen added.

‘That’s what’s been fun for me, just doing things in a completely different way and live my life in a way I was never able to when I was playing. And lose a lot of weight. I was 335 lbs. up until a couple of years ago. [Today] I’m probably 278.

‘I’m sure whenever you decide to retire Kelce, you lose that weight and you get so much more energy. It’s so nice to not feel so f**ing fat and sweaty and sloppy, man.’

Allen revealed the greatest thing he missed from the game was the camaraderie in the locker room

‘That’s why I love doing the pod with Chris. It’s just an excuse to hang out with your boys and talk about football,’ he said. ‘That’s what you miss the most. You talk to any guy that’s retired and ask them what they miss about the game, if they don’t say the guys in the locker room, then they’re a f***ing phony.’

Long echoed Allen’s sentiments, explaining that NFL players share a different mindset to the rest of the population.

‘I miss y’all man. More than anything, it’s you can get in a big room full of people and fill your cup socially but we’re different,’ he said.

‘We’re just different, for all our shortcomings and ways that all our wives and significant others get annoyed at us, but we just have really specific mindsets. So it is the locker room but also the absence of my kind of guy.

‘I also think it’s a huge existential crisis. Whether you think you’re ready or not, your life changes.’

Kelce had deliberated retiring at the end of last season and filmed his struggle to make a decision which later became a hit Prime documentary.

Eventually he decided to play on and signed a one-year contract with the Eagles for this season, but was due to become a free agent in March.

But this time it appears he’s walking away for good and Kelce looked overcome by emotion in the final few seconds of his team’s dreadful 32-9 loss to Bucs.

The Super Bowl winner, six-time All-Pro and future Hall-of-Fame inductee, turned and hugged the offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland as the clock ticked towards zero.

Jason, the older brother of Kansas City Chiefs star Travis, then had an emotional but brief reunion with his family on the field – his father, Ed, and wife Kylie were cheering him on from the front row of the stands.

He gave them both a wave as he made his way from the field and was filmed tearing up on his long and lonely walk back to the locker room.