Complete transcript from Jason Kelce’s retirement speech

Eagles legend Jason Kelce announced his retirement on Monday in a speech that lasted around 41 minutes.

Here is that speech in its entirety:

“Thanks for coming, guys. We’ll see how long this lasts … Not a good start.

There I lay … This is going to be long.

“There I lay, face up in the cool morning’s dew-covered grass, waiting for a whistle I knew would come at any second. Knowing full well Anthony Hurrell was a couple yards away on the ground waiting for the same. The foreign objects that rest upon my shoulders and head weighed me down and unbalanced my awaiting body. As the whistle blew, I arose, turned all in one motion and ran at my teammate. It isn’t even the collision I remember most, but the feeling before, of what in the fuck is about to happen? How is it going to feel? Will I win? Whenever I smell the clippings of a freshly mowed grass, I am brought back to this day, 12 years old, Roxboro Middle School, first day in pads.

“I’ve been asked many times, why did I choose football? What drew me to the game? And I never have an answer that gets it right. The best way I can explain it is what draws you to your favorite song, your favorite book. It’s what it makes you feel. The seriousness of it, the intensity of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt. There was a visceral feeling with football unlike any other sport. The hairs on my arms would stand up. I could hit somebody, run around like a crazed lunatic, and then get told good job.

“I loved football, whether it was in my backyard with my brother, on the playground with my friends or suiting up on Friday nights at Cleveland Heights High School. I loved everything about it.

Although I hadn’t met him yet, Jeff Stoutland often shares a quote his father would tell him. More often than not, the easy way is the wrong way. Football was hard, much harder than any sport I had ever played, physically and mentally. In most other sports, I was bigger, faster, stronger than everyone else. On the football field, those traits were matched. On the lacrosse field, I felt like LeBron James. On the football field, I was Billy Hoyle. I loved the challenge that football was. The joy of winning, the agony of defeat, the anxiety of the unknown and the camaraderie of my teammates. I’d like to thank my high school football coaches, Mike Jones, Damian Creel, Kihari Hicks and Gary Robolowski. Coach Robo, you know who you are. My hockey coaches, Kirk Gunther, Steve Bogus and Eddie Babcox, and my lacrosse coaches, Felipe Quintana and Ben Beckman. I’d also like to thank my band teacher, Brett Baker. All of you taught me countless lessons and put up with a very young, rambunctious kid that was full of immaturity, stupidity and cockiness. I would without question not be where I am today without your efforts. With me and the countless other children you served in my brother and I’s hometown, Cleveland Heights.