Travis Kelce stokes coals on speculation that Jason Kelce isn't retiring

A day after the Philadelphia Eagles were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that longtime Eagles center Jason Kelce informed his fellow teammates he intended to retire.

In the days following, it became unclear whether or not that report was entirely accurate or not. Kelce chose not to confirm it and had more to say that appeared to, at the least, indicate there was an internal debate still raging over retirement.

Kelce, who has played for the Eagles his entire career since his 2011 rookie season, is certainly coming up on the end of his career whether or not this is the end. The timeline sounds plausible.

As fans await the truth on his retirement news, they're looking for breadcrumbs, and Travis Kelce supplied a few in his Friday press conference ahead of his team's battle against the Bills on Sunday.

Travis Kelce thinks Jason Kelce can still play if he wants to

"[At] the end of that game, I think everybody kinda felt for him, knowing that he has been thinking about [retirement] a lot over the last couple of years" Kelce said.

Kelce went on to further explain that the Amazon Prime documentary centered on Jason, Kelce, that displayed his 2022 season from start to finish, made it obvious he was at least considering retirement. But he closed his talk on Jason by talking about how he believes there's some left in the tank:

"It's been cool to see everybody appreciate who he's been over the years this past week. But, I think the big guy's still got some football left if he wants it."

Of course, the key here is Jason's own desire to keep playing. He has a family who were a key focus of the documentary that he would surely love to spend more time with, but he's also been a competitor for so long that it's hard to know when is right to hang it up.

The Eagles, if Kelce is done, will have their work cut out for them replacing him. He was crucial to their last decade of football and especially prevalent in the offensive playbook this year with the team featuring a great deal of Brotherly Shove plays that heavily featured Kelce clearing a path for his quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Today, Kelce sits at 136th all-time in cumulative approximate value from Pro Football Reference.