The old guard is just about gone now. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to have a brand new, perhaps unexpected new identity next season as both team legends Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox announced their retirements.
The greatest era of Philadelphia Eagles football has come to an end.
After so many seasons and great moments with the Eagles down the years, both Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, the two of the three longest-serving tenured players on the Eagles roster, called it quits from football this offseason. And, whether the Eagles wanted this or not, they are going to need a brand-new set of quality leaders and veteran players without Kelce and Cox in the mix.
What a ride it has been for Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox with the Philadelphia Eagles.
If you haven’t seen the news today, Fletcher Cox, the heart and soul the Eagles defense for the last 12 seasons, announced his retirement after multiple years of career uncertainty and reduced minutes and roles on the starting Eagles defense. And this news has come just a few weeks after Jason Kelce, the heart and soul of the Philly offensive line for the last 13 seasons, retired in an extremely emotional, heartfelt press conference with Eagles players, coaches, staff members, media members, and Kelce’s own family in attendance.
So, in the span of two or so weeks, the Eagles lost the heart of their offense in Jason Kelce and now the heart of their defense in Fletcher Cox. That’s really tough, and even more so when you see that both of these players had such TREMENDOUS, respective, impacts for the Eagles over the years.
Kelce, who as I said started his career back in 2013, was a 1st Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl center all the way up to the very end.
Not only was the guy arguably the greatest center in the NFL for his baker’s dozen years in service with 7 Pro Bowl selections, 6 All-Pro selections (and all of them were 1st Team), allowed just 19 sacks on 7,944 pass-blocking snaps (a o.0024% sack-snap ratio…which is insane!), helping the Eagles reach 2 Conference championship games, 2 Super Bowl appearances (2018, 2023), and 1 Super Bowl victory (2018), but also he actually IMPROVED WITH AGE as he earned all 6 of his All-Pro selections after turning 30.
That’s a feat just as incredible as his sack-snap ratio!
And, as for Fletcher Cox, the grizzled defensive tackle could be argued to have been even more efficient in his role than Kelce was as he accumulated 6 Pro-Bowl selections, 4 All-Pro Selections (although just 1 1st Team to Kelce’s 6), 519 tackles, 70 sacks, 88 TFL, 173 QB hits, 17 forced fumbles, 14 fumbles recovered, and an inclusion in the 2010’s Hall of Fame All-Decade Team as a defensive tackle.
Oh, and as it was for Kelce, Cox also helped the Philly reach 2 Conference championship games, 2 Super Bowl appearances, and win the 2018 Super Bowl over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
As you can see, these two guys were legends of Philadelphia and should be considers (at least in my opinion) to be the two greatest players to have ever played for the Eagles organization (sorry, Reggie White, but these two accomplished more for the Eagles as you won your titles with Green Bay).
Yet, even though it’s going to be great for all Eagles fans to see these two in the Hall of Fame once their eligibility begins, the more pressuring issue today is how to replace the impact these two players brought to the Eagles team.
As of this moment, the only two players for Philadelphia who saw that 2018 Super Bowl win is DE Brandon Graham (who is the longest serving Philadelphia player EVER with 15 season) and LT Lane Johnson (who is now the 2nd longest, active serving Eagles player). Brandon Graham is 35 years old now and hasn’t started more than 3 games in a season since 2020, while Lane Johnson is now 33 years old and has been no stranger to the IR list.
The Eagles need to find a new leader on both the offense and defense to fill the void of Kelce and Cox as those two were always reliable and dependable up until their final snaps (both started in every game they played for Philly dating all the way back to their rookie seasons). And, especially so given the state of the franchise is a bit…tense and uneasy after that epic season collapse.
Regardless, congratulations on retirement, Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, the both of you have more than earned it!
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