PHILADELPHIA − Yes, things are good with Jason Kelce.
The longtime Eagles’ center is 34 years old, he’s still at the top of his game after coming off his fifth Pro Bowl season.
And Kelce likes everything about this team, which explains why he hasn’t retired despite contemplating it for each of the last four offseasons.
“He says this is going to be his last year. We’ll see about that,” right tackle Lane Johnson said.
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Kelce is keeping those plans in bubble wrap, a fitting metaphor for the plastic wrap he wore over this Guardian Cap helmet. It’s an experimental helmet the NFL is requiring offensive and defensive linemen, tight ends and linebackers to use in training camp in order to cut down on head injuries.
“Going full bubble boy for practice, gotta protect the ole noggin,” Kelce wrote on social media Friday morning.
Later, Kelce said he is all for anything that better protects the players from head injuries, adding that the helmets are supposed to add 20% more protection.
“I figure the bubble wrap gave me another 2 or 3%,” he added. “I’m just adding some more protective layers.”
But Kelce isn’t putting bubble wrap on the lofty expectations many have for the Eagles this season after they overcame a slow start in 2021 to finish 9-8 before losing in the first round of the playoffs.
The Eagles have since added wide receiver A.J. Brown, drafted Kelce’s heir apparent at center in Cam Jurgens, and improved throughout the defense through free agency and the draft.
Kelce, after all, has been around long enough to know that talent and expectations only go so far. In fact, Kelce told the team exactly that before practice on Friday.
“In this city, it feels like very year when the media thinks that we’re really good, we end up being really (bad),” he said, using an expletive. “And every year the media thinks we’re going to be (bad), we end up being really good. So I prefer not to look at what everybody thinks we look like on paper.
“The only way we’re going to be good this season is if we come out here and we work − each and every one of us. But I think we have a lot of talent. We have a great offensive line. I think we have a lot of really good skill-position players. I think we have a quarterback (Jalen Hurts) that is continuing to improve and was a great player last year and will be a great player this year.”
Kelce has experienced both extremes.
In 2011, he was a rookie sixth-round draft pick when the Eagles signed several high-priced free agents. One of those free agents, backup quarterback Vince Young, infamously referred to the Eagles’ additions as the “Dream Team.”
It didn’t work out that way.
Instead of going back to the playoffs for a fourth straight year, the Eagles started out 4-8 before finishing with four straight wins. Most of the free agents were busts.
Conversely, in 2017, not much was expected of the Eagles. They were coming off a 7-9 season under a first-year head coach in Doug Pederson and a rookie quarterback in Carson Wentz. The Eagles ended up winning the Super Bowl.
The Eagles are in a similar situation this season, going into Year 2 behind a first-time head coach in Nick Sirianni and a quarterback entering his second full season in Hurts.
Sirianni is doing his part to make sure his players don’t get caught up in the expectations.
“When you are trying to climb a mountain, you don’t look at the top of the mountain and say … ‘I have to climb that,'” Sirianni said. “You look to the part of the mountain you have to climb that day and you focus on that. That’s what training camp is about, you focus on the daily deposits.”
Kelce knows this, too.
He is one of four core veterans who have been together for a decade, joining Johnson (10th season), defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (11th season) and defensive end Brandon Graham (13th season).
“It’s very rare a group of guys can stay with the team for a decade or longer,” Johnson said. “I really cherish these moments with Kelce.”
That’s another thing that Kelce is excited about, the Eagles’ practice schedule during camp. Kelce has yet to participate in a team drill through two days of training camp as he continues to ramp up his conditioning after testing positive for COVID-19 a week before camp started.
But the Eagles’ practices are shorter and there are walkthroughs scheduled every third practice day, in addition to the mandatory day off per week.
“There are a lot of people in this building who do numerous studies, GPS loads, a lot of different criteria to make sure they’re putting us in the best and optimal situation for the team and the individual,” Kelce said. “And I think that has certainly has not just benefitted me, but benefitted everybody.
“But obviously, this schedule is certainly beneficial for older guys.”
Kelce has used that extra time to mentor his eventual successor in Jurgens. And Kelce has liked what he has seen from the rookie out of Nebraska.
“He’s strong, he’s athletic, he’s physical,” Kelce said. “But he’s also locked in mentally. He’s got a great temperament. Since he’s been here this offseason, his approach has been great. He’s got a very bright future ahead of himself, obviously.”
Kelce, of course, isn’t worried about the future. He’s still enjoying the present.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
