Keeping Kelce

Posted: March 2nd, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Keeping Kelce

Remember when Jason Kelce was thinking of retiring? You can forget about that.

Interesting development.

Kelce is playing the best football of his career over the last two seasons. He’s 31, but is as athletic as ever. He is smart, tough and durable. Kelce has dealt with some nagging injuries, but has started 64 games in a row. This is a player you want to keep around.

The extension gives the Eagles additional cap space this year. We’ll have to wait and see what they do with that.

In the last two days, the Eagles have given extensions to their best draft picks from 2010 (Brandon Graham) and 2011 (Kelce). Graham was a first rounder, while Kelce lasted until the sixth round. This is a great example of how confusing the draft can be.

The draft doesn’t define a player’s ability. It is simply how they get into the league. Once a prospect joins an NFL team, they will pass or fail based on merit. Certainly high picks get more chances than late rounders, but the bottom line is if you can play, you get to stay. Graham and Kelce came in differently, but both developed into Pro Bowl players and Super Bowl champions.

Things haven’t always been perfect for Graham or Kelce. Both dealt with knee injuries early on and have had other ups and downs. The Eagles stuck with them and it has really paid off to this point.

Clearly Kelce feels loyal to the Eagles. Graham did as well, not even hitting the open market to see if he could find more money. Both players wanted to stay in Philly and that’s a good sign for the organization. There are star players on other teams that are fighting their way out of town.

The Eagles didn’t add any talent, but they kept a couple of key players around. That can be just as critical as adding outside talent at this time of year.

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This would be interesting. Agholor has developed into a solid NFL receiver in the last couple of years. I’m just not sure if the Eagles see him as a long-term fit. Agholor is at his best in the slot. Is that a guy you pay big bucks to when you already have Zach Ertz on your team?

The Eagles could also see if Agholor would agree to a pay cut. I don’t know if he would do that. The Eagles would only discuss this if they thought Agholor and his agent would look around the league and see that it was the thing to do. I honestly don’t know what kind of market there would be for Agholor if he were a free agent. Some team might covet him or most teams might see him as just a solid role player. Hard to say.

If the Eagles are open to trading Agholor, what are they looking for? They could possibly use DT help if they plan on letting Tim Jernigan go. The Eagles could be looking for help at RB. We know that position needs help. I wonder if LB could be a possibility with Jordan Hicks future being uncertain.

The key to all of this is that the Eagles have options. It will be interesting to see what they do.

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