Jason Kelce clears the air as he declares ” I will be back ” Amid retirement speculation

He has been the team’s starting center for eight years and has been one of the NFL’s best players at the position, maybe the best, these last two. Yet there he was, not denying the substance of the report but instead admitting that yes, he has thought about retiring from football. He thought about it two years ago, when he was 29. And last year, when he was 30. And he will think about it again this offseason, now that he is 31. He had not decided anything yet, but he knew he would have to.

“This is a game where I am getting older,” Kelce said to begin an answer that demonstrated just how much thought he had given the topic, “and I think that for the last three years, realistically, I’ve tried to stay in the moment and stay in the season. Then, at the end of the year, you reassess and reevaluate. I certainly have not made any decisions or anything like that. This is the same situation as last year and the year before that. It’s probably a similar situation that Chris Long’s been through the last few years. Nick Foles has mentioned it.

“The reality is, it’s a hard game physically, and the older you get, the competitor in you and the player in you obviously want to keep playing and keep going, and through the rivers of the season, your family and friends are certainly taking the brunt of all the positives and negatives going on. I can’t really stress [enough] that I have not made a decision to retire at all, and this is a season-by-season-basis thing that will probably continue to happen for the rest of my career.”