3 potential trade destinations for Jason Kelce

Many teams ask themselves this question going into each offseason and the Philadelphia Eagles certainly need to do the same. With reports thus far, it looks like the Eagles are moving in the direction of rebuilding and getting younger.

Carson Wentz appears to be good as gone, Zach Ertz is ”˜bracing for a change in scenery’ the youth movement may be starting sooner than later. Unfortunately, that may mean that 34-year-old Jason Kelce may be the next victim.

Finding a trade partner may be easier for Kelce than for other players. Kelce is still elite and has a team-friendly deal (1 year, 8.14mil). If Kelce does hit the market expects there to be many suitors.

Kansas City Chiefs

Kelce to Kansas City makes a lot of sense from both a personal and a football stand point. Kelce has ties to both Head Coach Andy Reid who drafted him and his brother Travis who is the Chiefs tight end. From a football aspect it’s a great fit too.

As we all saw in the Super Bowl Mahomes had defensive linemen in his face every single snap. Part of this was due to the injuries to Schwartz and Fisher; another part was the lack of talent on the interior of the line.

Adding a player like Kelce will give Mahomes MUCH NEEDED protection. Kelce played the second-most offensive snaps at the center position with 1126 while only allowing 10 penalties, the least in the league, and four sacks, third least, per Pro Football Focus.

Las Angeles Chargers

After center Mike Pouncey announced his retirement with his brother Maurkice, the Chargers need an anchor for their offensive line to protect young stud Justin Herbert. Insert Jason Kelce.

Kelce has experience throughout his 10-year career in Philadelphia with young quarterbacks and helping them develop.  In that 10 year span, Kelce has played with Nick Foles, Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts when they were all rookies.

In Wentz’s second-year Kelce was vital to the 2017 success and should the Eagles move on from Kelce, the Chargers should be interested in having him fill in for Pouncey as the anchor to protect Justin Herbert.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers were the other casualty of the Pouncey brothers retiring. Maurkice Pouncey spent his entire career with the Steelers and had a brother like bond with Ben Roethlisberger.

There was a lot of trust in that relationship both and Pittsburgh will have to find a way to replace it if the Steelers want to compete next year. This is where Jason Kelce comes into play.

Kelce hasn’t missed a game since 2014 where he played in only 12. Kelce and Roethlisberger would be able to build trust on the field very quickly.

Kelce is a tough, smart player and would be the perfect fit to retool that Steelers line with Pouncey retiring and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva being a free agent.

Retirement

While this may seem like a shock to some, it shouldn’t for most. Kelce is turning 34 and has had a 10-year career in the league. He has achieved it all in his career.

A three-time First-Team All-Pro, a four-time Pro Bowler, and a Super Bowl champion back in 2017.

For the past few seasons, Kelce has contemplated retirement even as recently as prior to the 2019 season. Instead, he did sign an extension with the Eagles to keep him under contract through 2021.

With this being the final year of the restructured deal, he may decide to hang his cleats up and ride into the sunset. If that is the case for Kelce, we can definitively say he left it all on the line every single snap of every game.

He was a true iron man of the past decade and arguably the best center in the league.