Jason Kelce announces his retirement: Eagles star bursts into tears as he walks away from the NFL after 13 years in an emotional press conference with brother Travis and his family watching on

Jason Kelce has announced his retirement from football in an emotional press conference.

The Philadelphia Eagles legend burst into tears before he even started speaking and then finally ended months of speculation as he ended his career on Monday after 13 years in the NFL.

Kelce announced the decision with his brother Travis, wife Kylie and parents Ed and Donna in attendance at the Eagles’ team facility. Footage showed Travis crying as he watched.

The 36-year-old told the story of his football career, from playing at Cleveland Heights high school to the University of Cincinnati and then being drafted by the Eagles.

An emotional Kelce struggled to get his words out – regularly pausing for long periods and his voice breaking as he tried to hold back the tears

Talking about his relationship with his younger brother, Kelce said: ‘This is where it’s gonna go off the rails.

‘I won’t forget falling short to the Chiefs and the conflicting feeling of the heartbreak I had selfishly for myself and my teammates and, at the same time, the amount of pride I had in my brother. He climbed the mountain top once again.

‘We have a small family. No cousins. One aunt and one uncle. It was really my brother and I our whole lives. We did almost everything together. Competing, fought, laughed, cried and learned from each other.

‘We invented games, imagined ourselves as the star players of that time. We envisioned making the game winning plays, day after day. We won countless Super Bowls in our minds before ever leaving the house. And when we weren’t playing, we were at the other one’s games.

‘Butt seated in a long chair or bench, a Capri Sun in our hands that mom had packed, cheering during the game and waiting outside and afterward to celebrate a victory together or offer encouragement after a defeat.

There is no chance I’d be here without the bond that Travis and I share. It had made me stronger, tougher, smarter and taught me the values of cooperation, loyalty and understanding.’

He also paid a heartbreaking tribute to wife Kylie and said it’s ‘no coincidence I have enjoyed the best years of my career with Kylie by my side.’

Kelce added: ‘I still remember the moment she walked through the door. The first instance is burned in my retina, it was like she glided through the opening, an aura around her.

‘And then she started talking and I thought, “man, is this what love feels like?” She was beautiful, smart, serious, yet playful. I knew it right away.

‘I think it’s no coincidence I have enjoyed the best years of my career with Kylie by my side. Every accolade I have ever received in my life has come with her in my life.

‘She has brought the best out of me through love, devotion, support, honesty, intelligence, and of course a swift kick in the a** from time to time. She has also given me three beautiful girls in a life that increasingly brings me more fulfilment off the field than it does on. We’ve had a great run, Ky.’

Speculation first emerged that Kelce would hang up his cleats when the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January.

However, he refused to announce a definitive decision on his future in the weeks that followed, instead supporting brother Travis throughout the postseason as the Kansas City Chiefs eventually won the Super Bowl.

Kelce came close to retiring this time last year but decided to stay on for another season after struggling to walk away – a process that was captured on film in his hit Amazon Prime documentary.

Kelce was drafted by the Eagles in 2011 and has enjoyed a sensational 13-year career in Philadelphia.

A seven-time Pro Bowl selection, the center won the Super Bowl with the Eagles in 2018 when they beat the New England Patriots in Minnesota.

The center, who hosts the ultra-successful ‘New Heights’ podcast with his brother Travis and filled in on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast during his bye week this season, looks destined for a career in broadcasting if he wants it.

He’s already met with executives from Fox and ESPN, according to Front Office Sports, as he used Super Bowl week in Las Vegas to ‘make the rounds’ with networks.

The Sun also reported that there was already a ‘scramble’ among several broadcasters to win Kelce’s services – and that he could make up to $5million per year for his football analysis.

Despite the lucrative offers seemingly waiting for Kelce, he recently admitted to being anxious about what life after football might look like.

‘It’s exciting to think about possibilities, it’s exciting to be able to lose weight, feel good and not have to physically fight for my life every day,’ Kelce, 36, said. ‘It’s also daunting. It’s anxiety. At the end of the day, it’s the unknown.

‘People ask if you get nervous for games but the only games I get nervous for are the first time – you don’t know what is in store. Ironically it makes you play better, it makes your senses alive. But that is kind of where it is at when you start thinking about retirement.

It is exciting, the possibilities. All of us were fortunate, we can go in a lot of different areas. But that is also very nerve-wracking, you don’t know what you are going to like until you are doing it. You don’t know what you are going get fulfilment in until you are doing it, you don’t know what you are going to be great at until you are doing it.

‘All that stuff is also in the back of your head. No matter how you handle it, no matter who you are, how well prepared you are to enter the next stage, everybody goes through a level of depression, really.

‘The end of one of the things you love most in your life is there and you are going to have to come to grips with that.

‘You might be struggling and you don’t know it. I feel like you might be struggling in football but you get that win, that little shot, dopamine, like “I got it”. I’m a big ‘hit’ guy.’