Earlier this week, longtime Philadelphia Eagles center and likely future Hall of Famer Jason Kelce called it a career, announcing his retirement after 13 seasons, stepping away with seven Pro Bowls, six First Team All-Pro appearances and a Super Bowl victory. Kelce was extremely emotional and open in his retirement speech, which was universally lauded.
Discussing the retirement and press conference with his brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, on their New Heights podcast, led Travis to tell Jason how much he's looked up to his older brother throughout his time in the NFL. And Travis got just as emotional as Jason did.
"You've always been a step ahead of me in this game," the younger Kelce said, leading Jason to joke, "I'm older, Trav."
But then Travis continued.
"Yeah, but it's ... In this game alone, you've always been a step ahead of me. And it's always been like, I've had that flotation device right there. To have you out of it, it feels empty. And it definitely feels like, it's complete, you know? It was a success," he said, wiping away tears. "It was a fun-ass journey to watch. And like I said [Monday], man, I just appreciate you showing me the way and bringing us all along the journey with you, big guy."
As for Jason himself, he reminded his brother that it wasn't just a one-way street.
"We showed each other the way," Jason said. "You've been playing for a long time on your own, and I look forward to being able to appreciate and watch your games more and take in the bigger picture of football and everything it has to offer."
Jason was famously at Chiefs games throughout the playoffs after the Eagles were eliminated in the wild card round, and his celebrations of his brother's (and the Chiefs') accomplishments showcased the kind of thing that he is talking about having a chance to do more often in the future. It's extraordinarily likely that these two will each be enshrined in Canton one day, and we'll get to see them reminisce about each other and their time
