Jason Kelce placed his plastic cup underneath the spout on the keg of beer that was sent to him by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.
The Eagles’ center then filled up the cup, took a sip and wiped the foam from his mustache and beard, and announced his retirement with a pause “… from hosting (on sportsradio) WIP.”
Then Kelce added: “But I’m definitely not retiring from playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. I’m having way too much fun doing that. Looking forward to another year, Philadelphia, and all my teammates. Let’s go dominate.”
Kelce hosted the radio station’s show Wednesday morning, and he was bombarded with questions about whether he’d be returning for a 12th season or not.
Kelce, who’s 34 years old and coming off his fourth Pro Bowl season, didn’t answer, saying that he wanted to wait to announce his decision to his coaches and teammates.
Kelce has contemplated retirement in each of the last four offseasons before deciding to return.
But as he completed each season, the chances of retirement have increased. Kelce, after all, has already been on a Super Bowl champion, has earned tens of millions of dollars, and now has two daughters, the second coming last March.
And this past season could have easily pushed Kelce into retirement.
After all, the Eagles were supposed to be rebuilding behind a first-time head coach in Sirianni, and a 23-year-old unproven quarterback in Jalen Hurts. In addition, the Eagles had traded or released several veterans from the 2017 Super Bowl team, many of them close friends of Kelce, including tight end Zach Ertz last October.
In addition, right guard Brandon Brooks announced his retirement in January.
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Things looked particularly bleak for the Eagles when they started 2-5 after a humiliating loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
But the Eagles turned their season around, winning 7 of 10 games to make the playoffs, where they were beaten by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-15.
Through it all, Kelce kept saying how much fun he was having, and how much he liked and respected his younger teammates.
And through it all, Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman kept saying they wanted Kelce back.
That was the case last week at the NFL scouting combine when Sirianni confirmed that he had a keg of beer delivered to Kelce’s house in hopes of convincing him to play one more season.
But for Kelce to return, it’s likely that he needed to restructure his contract, both to lower the Eagles’ salary-cap hit from $6.5 million this season in exchange for another year of guaranteed money in 2023.
Kelce’s salary cap hit is $10.7 million in 2023 even though he’s currently not guaranteed any money. That is the result of past restructuring.
Considering that Kelce is deciding year-by-year about retiring, the same scenario can play out next year as well.
The Eagles would probably be OK with that since Kelce is clearly among the best centers in the NFL. He was drafted in the sixth round in 2011, and has started in every game that he has played in.
In fact, Kelce has started the last 122 games in a row, the longest streak among NFL centers. He’s also closing in on the franchise record for games for an Eagles offensive lineman. Kelce needs to play in 10 more games to break the record of 159 games played.
With Kelce back, the Eagles don’t have to scramble to find a center to replace him, and it should keep one of the strongest NFL offensive lines in tact.
“There are a lot of the things that are dependent on (Kelce’s return), right?” Sirianni said. “You have to go through the offseason, you have to go through all the things and everybody has to get back from injuries, get back into the swing of things.”
Had Kelce retired, the Eagles could have moved either guard Isaac Seumalo, who’s coming off a season-ending foot injury, or 2021 rookie Landon Dickerson, to center. Or they could have signed one in free agency, which starts Wednesday.
As it is, both can stay at guard, with Jack Driscoll, Nate Herbig and Sua Opeta as backups.
That’s because Kelce got his beer, and the Eagles got their center.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
