Three Eagles Could Retire At The End Of This Season
Three longtime Eagles could hang up the cleats after this season.
Eagles center Jason Kelce, defensive lineman Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham are entering the twilight years of their career.
While the Eagles have the ninth youngest roster in the NFL with an average age of 25.7, they’re still getting Pro Bowl-caliber play from this aging trio.
The Eagles go way back with these players. Each of them is 32 or older and were starters for the Eagles’ victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Also, they’ve been around since the Andy Reid era! Most recently, they helped the Eagles reach the playoffs in five of the last six seasons. But nothing lasts forever.
Let’s take a look at each player’s situation and whether or not they’ll be on the Eagles roster next year.
Jason Kelce Center Jason Kelce, 35, has been a mainstay on the Eagles offensive line. The five-time Pro Bowler hasn’t missed a game since Week 7 of the 2014 season, per previous reporting from Yardbarker.
Kelce has been mulling over retirement for some time. In fact, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni sent Kelce a keg last offseason as a way to persuade him to stay with the Eagles for one more season, per Sports Illustrated’s Wilton Jackson.
In other news, he’s been spotted as a celebrity bartender at the Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City, New Jersey to raise awareness for the Eagles Autism Foundation, per CBS News Philadelphia.
He’s also started his own podcast with his brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, called ‘New Heights.’
It appears Kelce has focused on off-field opportunities in recent years, which could mean he’s strongly considering retirement in the near future. Even when Kelce retires, he will always be close to home. The Eagles legend recently bought a house in Sea Isle, per Crossing Broad.
Fletcher Cox At one time, Fletcher Cox, 32, was a perennial Pro Bowl and considered one of the best defensive tackles in the league. Cox has 480 tackles and 64 sacks in 169 career games. He was named to the the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team, solidifying his place as one of his era’s finest.
Cox was cut by the Eagles last offseason and then re-signed with the team just a few days later on a team-friendly one-year, $14 million contract, per NFL.com.
The Eagles also drafted Georgia defensive lineman Jordan Davis this year, who looks like the heir apparent to Cox.
The Eagles also went out and signed interior defensive linemen Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh to one-year contracts to beefen up the Eagles’ run defense. As Cox sees his snap count decrease in the team’s defensive line rotation, it seems the Eagles have replaced him in the short-term and long-term.
Even though he is playing past his prime, Cox is still one of the most successful defensive lineman of of his era.³
Brandon Graham Super Bowl LII hero Brandon Graham, 34, strip-sacked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the final moments of the game. The game-changing play swung the momentum in the Eagles direction and helped them win it all.
The 2020 Pro Bowler has been a mainstay on the Eagles formidable defensive line. He missed 15 games last season with a torn achilles.
He’s made a comeback this year with 28 tackles and 8.5 sacks. When you look at his stats, Graham shows no signs of slowing down. Graham is set to become a free agent in 2024 when his contract expires, per Over the Cap. Out of the three players mentioned on this list, Graham seems like the one who is most likely to stick around.
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