Every NFL player has a tale about their draft. Away from the bright lights of Radio City Music Hall, some are silent, anxious waits in bowling alleys, while others are fairy stories steeped in champagne. How about Jason Kelce’s? It’s a cross between a suspenseful thriller and a slow burn, interspersed with humility, uncertainty, and one memorable phone conversation from a coach who doesn’t sugarcoat things.
On Day 3 of the NFL Draft, Kelce was just another prospect, struggling with doubt and wondering if the dream would ever come true, before he became a Philadelphia icon, a Super Bowl champion, and the bearded face of the Eagles. Draft day wasn’t exactly a red carpet moment for Jason Kelce. And he had no clue that his career and the beginning of one of football’s most prestigious legacies would be shaped by what transpired next.
In an interview with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie on 94 WIP, Kelce talked candidly about his nervousness, uncertainty, and the moment his phone finally rang, only to have Coach Andy Reid throw a curveball right away. Kelce remarked, “I knew I wasn’t going first or second round. I thought maybe fifth or sixth. So, we stayed in Cincinnati and went bowling instead of watching the draft. I didn’t want to sit there and watch pick after pick go by.” But even the bowling didn’t dull the tension.
As Day 3 dragged on, and his name remained uncalled, Kelce started bracing for the worst. “I go back to the house, everyone’s outside, and I’m in my room, thinking, ‘Maybe I’m not getting drafted at all.’ Then I see a 215 number pop up.” It was Andy Reid—and he wasn’t there to offer congratulations just yet.
“He goes, ‘You been in any accidents? Any car crashes?’” Kelce recounted, heart racing. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m good.’ Then he says, ‘Alright, here’s how this is going to work.’” And then Reid lays out this whole sequence of who he’s going to talk to next. Then he asks Jason, “‘You got that?’ I say, ‘I have no idea what you just said.’”
Reid then gave the warning, saying, “You’re gonna be playing in front of 70,000 people in Philly. I need you to have better composure than this.” It’s not exactly a ‘welcome to the NFL’ moment, but it’s perfectly appropriate for a coach who doesn’t shake hands to assign starting positions. That pressure-packed moment would be the first of many tests Kelce passed with grit.
What followed is now Philly legend: Kelce became the first rookie center in franchise history to start all 16 games. He fought back from injuries in 2012, came back stronger, and earned six Pro Bowl selections, four first-team All-Pro nods, and helped deliver the city its first Super Bowl ring in over 50 years. The man Reid once warned about composure? Yeah—he also happens to hold the longest consecutive starts streak in Eagles history.
Reid’s unfiltered take on drafting Jason Kelce
Years later, Andy Reid reiterated why selecting Jason Kelce was never a risk, also reflecting on the initial decision. Jason asked his former coach bluntly, “Why’d you take a chance on me?” during an episode of the Kelce brothers’ New Heights Podcast. Reid didn’t flinch. He said, “Yours was really easy. You were a little undersized, but tough, smart, fast, dirty. No drama. You were exactly what we needed at center.”
Reid commended Kelce for his boldness and football IQ, which were qualities that made him an ideal match for the Eagles’ plan. Jason was prepared from the start, in contrast to his younger brother, Travis Kelce, who came into the league with concerns about his maturity and discipline. During his first locker room encounter at Cincinnati, Travis was acting like a long-lost friend of Reid. “I come over to the locker room, he comes walking be-boppin’ out and just giving me the business like we’re long-lost friends.” Then Reid jokingly said, “And deep down, I’m going, ‘If I get my hands on that son of a buck, I’m gonna rip his heart,’ but I play along with it.”
But his tone with Jason was very different—professional respect was evident from the start. Reid made reference to Kelce’s transition from linebacker to offensive line in college when he said, “We just got rid of all that linebacker stuff and gave you to Howard Mudd and cut you loose.”
That decision? Let’s just say it aged really well. Jason went on to anchor the Eagles’ offensive line through a decade of success, earning a rep as the heart and soul of the franchise. Meanwhile, Travis flourished in Kansas City under Reid’s watch, becoming the NFL’s most dominant tight end. Different journeys, same destination: greatness. But when it came to trust, Jason had Reid’s trust from the start.
Jason Kelce’s journey from overlooked bowling buddy to future Hall of Famer is the stuff of NFL mythology. Andy Reid’s call might’ve started with a curveball, but it ended with the kind of belief that only a few players ever earn. Draft day might’ve tested Kelce’s patience and composure, but the rest of his career proved something far more important: He was just ready to be an Eagle.
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