Philadelphia Eagles: Jason Kelce tops all centers in Pro Bowl fan voting

Jason Kelce is having himself one heck of a year.

Since opting to remain with the Philadelphia Eagles into Year 11, Kelce has bleached his hair blonde, bartended for donations down da’ shore, and been named the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for his outstanding contributions to the community.

Are his days in midnight green fleeting? Will the 34-year-old finally hang up his cleats at the end of the season, even if Eagles fans would like him to stick around forever? Maybe, maybe not, but if this is Kelce’s final rodeo in South Philly, it looks like it will be capped off with a trip to Las Vegas, as the pride of Cleveland Heights finished first in Pro Bowl voting among centers.

If you’ve missed out on grabbing a Kelce Pro Bowl jersey to add to your Philadelphia Eagles collection – or have collected all four so far – it looks like you’ll have one final opportunity to right that wrong.

Jason Kelce has been everything and more for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021.

When Jason Kelce went down in Week 12 versus the New York Giants, it looked bad.

He grimaced in pain, left the field for the sidelines, and tried desperately to get himself right to return to the game but with little visible progress.

But do you want to know what else looked bad? Nate Herbig‘s botched snap on the very next play that effectively killed a drive in a game filled with killed drives.

Despite initially making the team as a developmental center – which in and of itself is unusual, considering he played guard with the Stanford Cardinals – Herbig has proven to be a much better reserve guard than a true utility interior man. Had Herbig played well in Kelce’s sted, maybe he wouldn’t have retaken the field in an ultimately losing effort, but between the former’s struggles and the eventual season-ending injury to Jack Driscoll, that just wasn’t possible.

No, as he’s done oh so many times in his career, Kelce retook the field injured, played out the rest of the game, and did so at a better than average level.

That’s sort of been a trend for Kelce, playing hurt, as he’s been on the injury report dozens of times over the years but hasn’t missed a game since 2014. While no one would fault the uber-talented center for missing a game now and then, he knows that 70 percent of Jason Kelce is better than the Tom, Dick, or Harry that’d be replacing him, so time and time again, he takes the field.

Do you want to know who else knows that fact? Fans voting for the Pro Bowl, as Kelce led all centers in fan voting and will thus all but surely end up in the game early next year. This will mark Kelce’s fifth trip to the Pro Bowl, bolster his case for the Hall of Fame, and all but cement his place as the best center in the NFL over the last decade.

But hey, if you’ve watched an Eagles game over the last 11 years, you certainly know this; not only is Jason Kelce one of the best sixth-round picks in NFL history, but he’s arguably been Philadelphia’s best player for most of the 2010s.

Ultimately, Jason Kelce’s legacy in Philadelphia is more or less set. He’s got the awards, the Super Bowl trophy, the Mummers costume; really, the only thing missing from his trophy chest is the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which he feels like a strong candidate to secure when it’s awarded early next year. But do you know what? As the Philadelphia Eagles fight for a spot in the playoffs, it’s nice to know that Kelce’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed and that fans voted like crazy to make sure that’s the case.