Eagles' Jason Kelce hints at possible return in 2024

Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce's football career may not be over yet. 

The 13-year veteran has been very visible of late, riding shotgun while younger brother Travis Kelce goes on another Super Bowl run with the Kansas City Chiefs. While his escapades as a fan seemed like the coronation of his retirement age, though, his comments after Sunday's AFC Championship game hint that he might be back on the field in 2024 after all. 

Speaking with Olivia Reiner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Kelce called the end of the Eagles' season "disappointing" before sounding like a player locked into playing next year. 

"I really look forward to trying to prove people wrong, especially with some of the recent hires and Nick Sirianni," Kelce said. "And there's a lot of things up in the air for the Philadelphia Eagles. But I think that, as a player, you always look forward to go into battle with your guys." 

Following the Eagles late-season collapse, culminating in a lopsided 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round, Kelce was emotional in a way that signaled this could be the end of his storied, likely Hall of Fame career. Kelce later denied reports that he had told his teammates he was retiring, saying that he purposely hadn't made a choice because of the emotion tied to the decision. 

Kelce told Reiner that he still had yet to decide whether to hang up his cleats for good before vowing to be a part of the Eagles organization no matter what. 

"I don't want to ever feel like I'm on the outside looking in on these achievements and these accolades and these opportunities tat largely represent entire cities and fan bases and organizations," Kelce said. "It's too good a feeling to pass up." 

A six-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler with a Super Bowl ring to boot, Kelce doesn't have anything left to prove on the gridiron. Still, he sounds less like a player whose career is in the rearview and more like one who realizes, despite the Eagles' failures this year, that the window to win is still open and he might not want to miss out.