Jason Kelce is excited for another opportunity to bring a Super Bowl back to The City of Brotherly Love.
The Philadelphia Eagles and Kelce agreed to a one-year contract extension on Saturday, making him the highest paid center in the NFL, per ESPN’s Adam Caplan.
The Eagles will now have the 31-year-old offensive lineman locked through 2021. Kelce is set to make an annual salary of $11 million.
For him, though, it’s about much more than just the money.
”It’s not necessarily [about] being the highest-paid center. The salary and contract is one part of being a happy and fulfilled player,” Kelce told Zach Berman of The Philadelphia Inquirer on a conference call Saturday afternoon. “But I think, more importantly, I get to continue to be a part of the organization. My teammates, the coaches, the entire organization is top-notch. That’s much more important than the number, as far as the contract as concerned.”
The two-time Pro Bowler was named a team captain for the Eagles last season, and has been one of Philly’s most loveable players since their first Super Bowl victory in the 2017-18 season.
“I think the team expressing that they wanted to re-up my deal even before the season was over … I think that reaffirmed in my head that they still value me extremely high, not just as a player, but as a member of this team,” Kelce said. “That’s certainly a part of it. More than anything, I think it was probably something beneficial for both sides to get done.”
Despite pondering retirement this offseason, Kelce has solidified himself as one of the league’s best centers.
He still believes he has a ton of fuel left in the tank, but the injuries keep him wary.
“I think that the whole time, I was very much on the side of continuing to play,” Kelce said. “This wasn’t like a 50-50 chance of writing pros and cons for each side. I think after the season, you wait for all the injuries and everything, you wait for your body to recover, that takes two to three weeks, and then after that, you can look at things with a clean slate, a level-headed mind.”
Jason Kelce will enter his ninth NFL season in 2019-20.
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