How Will Jason Kelce's Retirement Impact Eagles' Culture? | NFL Mailbag
The Eagles lose a leader, could the Buccaneers lose a quarterback?
As promised, each week I’ll answer your questions on the biggest storylines across the league, as well as your favorite NFL teams and players.
This has been a busy week, and dominoes are really going to start falling across the league, with free agency set to get underway on March 13.
Now, to the Mailbag!
Q: What impact will Jason Kelce’s retirement have on the Eagles’ locker room, and Nick Sirianni’s control over it?
Kelce, one of the most revered athletes in Philadelphia sports history, and a pillar of the Eagles’ leadership council won’t easily be replaced. On, or off the field.
While it might have been an overblown storyline by season’s end, thanks to players giving Nick Sirianni an “A” on the NFLPA’s annual report card, there was a strong perception among coaches, executives, well-connected agents, and sources around the league that the Eagles’ head coach had lost the locker room amid a disastrous finishing stretch of the 2023 season.
Now, Take away one of the most respected veterans, and suddenly there’s one fewer voice who played in a Super Bowl under Sirianni to help weather the inevitable storms that could arise throughout a grueling NFL season.
“That is going to be big leadership and culture loss for them,” an agent with a client on the Eagles’ roster told me, following Kelce’s tearful retirement announcement.
However, not everyone is convinced Kelce’s retirement will make a major impact on the Eagles’ culture.
“It won’t change much,” Brian Baldinger told me. “After all, they collapsed with Kelce at center, and they couldn’t stop a slide.
“Cam Jurgens is a good player. Lane Johnson and Jeff Stoutland are there. Jalen Hurts has to step up now.”
In Kelce’s absence, there is now even more significant an onus on quarterback Jalen Hurts to take on a stronger leadership voice and role beginning this offseason.
I posed this question to former Eagles offensive lineman and current NBCSports Philadelphia analyst Barrett Brooks, who believes that Kelce’s absence could potentially impact the 25-year-old quarterback the most.
“Hurts will feel the biggest void of Kelce's retirement,” Brooks says. “He was probably the single biggest factor in Hurts' development as a QB. Calling the defense, protections, run-blocking schemes, and blitz!
“Kelce was more than a locker room example and Captain. On the field, he was the best center in football. Probably the best lineman in football for a couple of years. His consistency gave him a voice in the locker room, on the field, and throughout Philadelphia as a man's-man among the people.”
One year removed from playing for a second Super Bowl ring, Kelce stepped away while truly on top of his game. According to Pro Football Focus, Kelce allowed just one sack last season while posting an elite 86.2 run-blocking grade.
The Eagles have Cam Jurgens waiting in the wings, but Kelce’s loss in the locker room could be immeasurable. Kelce’s retirement places added pressure on Sirianni, whose chief responsibility seems to be fostering a winning culture in 2024.
"As for Nick,” Brooks says. “I think it will be easier to handle the Head Coach position with the experience he has in the Coordinators. The direction of the messages will be clearer to the players now. Experienced voices that the players will now trust will make it easier to lead the team. There were too many young voices among the coaching staff last year! Compare the number of years of experience from this year to last year.”
In bidding farewell to a legend like Kelce, the Eagles not only lose a Hall of Fame center on the field but also a true stalwart in the locker room.
Q: I'm interested in some coverage/analysis on Mayfield and the Buccaneers.
They've now paid Evans A LOT and tagged Antoine Winfield Jr. as a "placeholder" for a bigger deal.
I'm wondering how possible it is for them to lock in White, Baker, the role player FAs, and sign their draft picks with like $20-30mil in cap space?
It’s a great question because general manager Jason Licht and the Buccaneers find themselves in a bit of a bind here.
Re-signing All-Pro wide receiver Mike Evans to a two-year deal worth $52 million only really makes sense if the Buccaneers can pair his return with re-signing Mayfield. Tagging Winfield makes sense on several fronts, both as a placeholder as a possible trade, and to ensure that arguably the premier young safety in the league doesn’t wind up cashing in elsewhere in the coming weeks.
But, now the pressure is on to sign Mayfield to a contract before free agency gets underway. Mayfield has much of the leverage today, and he’ll have even more when the new league year begins and he becomes available to 31 other teams.
As I reported, multiple league sources say the Falcons are showing significant interest in signing Mayfield.
Hypothetically, if Kirk Cousins winds up signing elsewhere, Mayfield becomes a fit for the Minnesota Vikings, as well, one year after the strongest season of his career.
Spotrac projects Mayfield could fetch a four-year contract worth $108.5 million, which would average out to $27.1 million per season.
If Licht and the Buccaneers believe Mayfield showed enough in 2023 by passing for 4,044 yards with 28 touchdowns to 10 interceptions to be the long-term solution, structuring a contract with low guarantees in 2024 and backloading the deal, it makes too much sense not to get done.
Even after the Evans contract, the Buccaneers still have upwards of $22.4 million in total cap space in 2024, and $136 million in 2025. That’s plenty of spending flexibility to backload a Mayfield contract, still bring a veteran leader such as linebacker LaVonte David back, and sign this year’s draft class with little issue.