Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who gave a speech for the ages when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in February 2018, may go down as one of the more popular athletes in Philadelphia.
And a guy Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea ran out of football.
Kelce’s career came to an end when he announced his retirement after the Bucs (and Vita Vea) ended the Eagles’ season back in January in a wild card game.
Appearing on the Ryen Russillo Podcast last weekend, Kelce confessed his body could no longer take the punishment dished out by the beastly Bucs defensive tackle.
Russillo asked Kelce if he could still block for the famous Philly Tush Push, a play that the Bucs and Vea stopped twice in Kelce’s final game.
“That was one [play] I was still executing at a high level,” Kelce said. “I think I can still go out there and still tush-push it. It would be miserable but I could still get that done.
“But what forced me into retirement was knees that no longer wanted to block guys like Vita Vea. Elbows that continually pop and get stuck in certain places.”
Sounds like Vea was a handful.
The stories of Vea’s strength and brute force are legendary. The guy is a monster. To think that he beat down Kelce to the point he didn’t want to get back on a football field again, a guy who may be in the Hall of Fame someday is yet another chapter in the Legend of Vea.
