Travis Kelce was seen in Philadelphia over the weekend, and I thought it was weird that he was just hanging out for two weeks rather than spending time with his girlfriend. As it turns out, Travis had a reason for being in Philly in recent days – he was spending time with his Philadelphia-based brother Jason Kelce, he attended a fundraiser, and Travis wanted to be there when Jason formally retired from the Philadelphia Eagles and from his pro football career. While Jason has indicated, several times, that this past season would be his last, he hadn’t done the big retirement speech until Monday. Jason was very emotional, and so was Travis (who sat in the front row with their parents).
Jason is 36 – Travis is 34. If Jason is ending his career, you’ve got to think that Travis sees the end coming soon as well. Travis is committed to playing for one more season with the Chiefs, but I wonder what his mindset will be this time next year. I guess it depends on how well the Chiefs do in the ‘24-25 season. As for Jason… he has a wife and young children and I imagine he’ll be in demand for commentary and probably post-NFL endorsements. The Kelce Bros will be fine!
Photos courtesy of Getty, screencap from videos.
I know it’s sad and emotional for him (watch Kelce documentary if you haven’t already) but I am so happy for him and his family to turn this page. He will have a ton of opportunities and offers left and right. I also hope he takes some down time for all of them.
Jason gave a very humble and grateful speech about his family and how they believed in him. He also was grateful to the fans giving them much credit and to his teammates and coaches. It was a very emotional speech that he gave and he cried a lot through it. It must be awful when your mind is willing but your body has some issues and just can’t go through it anymore.
How refreshing is it to see the Kelsey brothers show emotions and tear up all the time? No toxic masculinity.
They really are in touch with their emotions and not afraid or ashamed to show it. Which is lovely and refreshing.
I love them so much. I made my son watch Jason’s retirement announcement with me. I love that there are men who would be considered traditionally masculine who aren’t afraid to have big emotions and also show them. We both cried, even though we had never heard of them before the brothers’ Super Bowl face off.
I am going to sit down with my son and watch it this evening. Kiddo is only 4 but he is already starting to repeat things like “boys don’t cry” so it is timely.
It is, imo, one of the best retirement announcements. Ever. I cried at his first choke. How he talked about everything with an open chest. Big dude sharing his feels. With honesty. Want to give him a big hug of thank you.
His mentioning of Andy Reid signifies a lot about Andy Reid. If you want to know more about Andy Reid…
https://www.chiefs.com/news/longforms/the-andy-reid-story
From the sounds of it, it’s also the Jason Kelce story. Might still be available on Netflix. I’ve never been to Philly. Would love to go for his fundraisers.
Just coming here to say that I really really dislike the “Why isn’t Travis on tour with Taylor/he should be spending time with his girlfriend” tone Celebitchy has taken lately.
They are two grown a$$ adults with massive careers. He has his own life! She has her own life!
Jason Kelce is a national treasure. I can’t wait to see what he does next. I am not a sports girly, so I’m selfishly hoping it’s not just commentary on ESPN or something bc I don’t I’ll watch any of that.
I agree! It’s pretty clear to me that Taylor is happy with a man who has his own career, responsibilities, and dreams. That’s what she wants! It’s also clear to me that are seeing each other every week or two, even if they have to fly halfway across the world. It works for them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to some out of the way beach to spend some time together during her break and we never find out about it. All that matters is that they are both happy with the arrangement and all signs say they are!
Agreed. I don’t feel any sort of way about Travis living his own life while she’s INCREDIBLY busy on her world tour. I like to see them both do what they need to do to achieve their own goals, like Taylor focusing 100% on caring for herself when she’s not on stage so she’s able to perform at her best.
Yessssss. They are both fully formed people, who had full lives before they met each other. They have clearly been making a big effort to join those lives, but they have both spoken about the fact that having a partner who has ambition and lots of stuff going on is a turn on and a big part of why they have connected so strongly so quickly.
It annoys the hell out of me how so many people seem to think we know everything about them, and therefore can schedule their lives to maximize our own enjoyment.
The Kelce brother’s podcast (New Heights) is hilarious. Jason did a random synopsis of the Twilight movies that was delightful and spot-on. Both brothers have bright futures outside football in the mainstream.
Its so funny to me, its like no one has ever been in a long distance relationship before. If you want to be with someone its really not a big deal to be apart for work or to achieve your own goals and some might argue it makes the relationship more exciting. 😉 I met my husband working at summer camp and I was already scheduled to go to Australia for 5 months on a work visa at the end of it. I still went and we just talked on the phone and wrote letters until I got back. If anything it made our connection stronger. Again, if two people are on the same page, which I have to assume TnT are then its not a big deal. Plus Singapore is a 20hr flight from LA and its hot and humid as heck there. No need for Travis to go suffer just to perform boyfriend for the public lol when she will be back in the states by next weekend anyway.
yeah, Jason just made a heart wrenching, life altering decision and good on Travis for being there for him. If Taylor can’t understand that – and I’m confident she does – than she doesn’t deserve him.
I am one of those people who has not cared about NFL football ever. High school ball when I was in high school, and particularly college football when I was in college. Otherwise I really don’t pay attention to the NFL.
But I’ve come a long way this season (thanks Taylor) and I teared up watching Jason’s speech. I’ve been listening to the Kelce brothers podcast for about 2 months, and they’ve won me over. Jason in particular.
I want good things for Jason and his family. I’m glad he’s retiring before a catastrophic injury. I hope he has many successes post-football. Selfishly I hope he does something public, so I can enjoy watching/listening to him.
Football is such a brutal sport on your body. I hope Travis retires when it feels right, and before he gets seriously injured, as well.
The Kelce brothers’ love for each other is just amazing to watch.
Football is so hard on the body. 36 is very young for the body to feel old so I don’t blame him for getting out while he is still healthy.
Kimmy, I agree! Didn’t Travis mention that Taylor doesn’t talk between shows to save her voice and she rests as much as possible between the 3 day performances? They are both contractually obligated to do so many things. On top of that, the celebrations he had with the team are the last time this particular roster will be together.
WOW this was hard to watch at times but so beautiful to see a man reminiscing about his whole career and life and how hard a lot of it was and the work he put into it and all the people who contributed along the way. He sites so many people and this is a great speech. I love how he says so many other people he’d like to name check in person and thanks the cafeteria workers
Even if you don’t love the Eagles — or sports in general — Jason’s speech is worth watching, or reading, in full. I’ve been a Jason Kelce fan for a long time, but I hadn’t realized what an amazing writer he is.
He took us on a journey from his childhood to his career, and thanked everyone who helped him along the way, including his high school band teacher. It was incredible and, at times, really poetic. And the way he spoke about his wife Kylie … so, so sweet.
I’m so sad for Philly, but so happy for Jason and his family that he made this decision. It’s going to be weird watching Eagles games without him on the field.
Here’s the transcript:
https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/jason-kelce-retirement-speech-transcript
It begins: “There I lay … face up in the cool morning’s dew covered grass, waiting for a whistle I knew would come at any second …”
Thank you posting that. Jason is so articulate and so humble.
I want people to read it — it’s so great (at times hilarious and at times moving).
Jason’s speech was so moving and heartfelt. There was not a dry eye in the room. I love how humble he appears and how sweet natured.
If he wrote this speech himself (I think he did), he is a great writer!
I’m sure it’s absolutely his words and thoughts but had some help in the construction which is understandable. It was A LOT.
This was such an amazing speech it was incredible how he did a segment thanking Travis and then fluidly went to thanking Philly fans for their “brotherly love” then went balk to his gratitude to the coach and thanking the players and saying “we are stronger together” and noting all their diverse backgrounds then coming back to talking about how he met his wife and thanking her and ultimately thanking his parents again before ultimately announcing his retirement. Again what an Amazing speech!!
Oops sorry I was mid edit and there was a lot to process so my comment is super disjointed.
But yeah this speech was amazing! There were also some funny bits but I think everyone was crying too hard to laugh or applaud on cue.
And how he talks about his parents support is amazing. He basically says his mom is a badass in a time that her parents didn’t want her to play sports or go to college. He rendered tribute to both of them so eloquently.
Papa Kelce said that Jason will retire when ‘it’s time’ and Travis will retire when they won’t let him in the building anymore, Mama Kelce agreed.
Swifties have already CSI-ed Travis’ new bracelets, he’s got a new TNT one. He shouldn’t be shamed for working on commercials and developing his next act, I wouldn’t have known of him if he hadn’t done so well on snl.
I watched this yesterday and wept all through it. I was surprised at how poetic this man is, and really touched at his gratitude for everyone, even the cafeteria workers. But how edifying to hear how he talks about his wife, and his brother and parents. He has a great heart. I think he and his little brother should both go into movies. They both are very expressive. And they can sing. Thanks for commenting on this today.
What a speech! I had to hold my UPENN alum brother’s shaking hand and remind him Jason isn’t riding off into the sunset. He has the charm and intelligent to do just about whatever he desires and yk he’s sitting under an avalanche of offers.
I thought I was the only one who cried at that speech! 😂 I am one of the don’t care about football folks but the Kelse brothers …OMG. Thank you Taylor, for introducing me to them. I laugh at their podcast, and they are just DELIGHTFUL! Count me in on the TNT both have seriously busy professional commitments and can’t just provide endless gossip fodder crowd as well~enough, they both have goals and things to accomplish other than just provide a constant stream about their relationship status.