Jason Kelce’s retirement sent shock waves through the NFL.
The legendary Eagles center officially hung up his jersey in March, making the announcement during a tearful press conference in front of his younger brother and podcast co-host, Travis.
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Kelce, 36, left an indelible mark on the Eagles franchise and the city of Philadelphia as a whole.
He won Super Bowl LII, was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times and was first-team All-Pro six times.
Filling the void left by one of the greatest offensive linemen of all time is no easy task.
However, according to NFL Draft expert Matt Miller, the Eagles have been planning for this eventuality for some time, with Kelce even “picking” his own replacement.
“The good thing for Philly is they anticipated this very well,” Miller told talkSPORT exclusively.
“Two years ago they drafted Cam Jurgens out of Nebraska. He was playing guard last year but he’s on hold, he was like handpicked, so they’re going to move him on.”
“It’s not a great center class this year, it’s really not,” Miller added, looking ahead to the upcoming NFL Draft.
“But they (the Eagles) planned this in advance. And the cool thing is they asked Jason for feedback, like, watch these centers, who do you think could replace you? Who in this class is basically you?
“And he picked Cam Jurgens from Nebraska and that’s who they picked.”
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Jurgens attended the University of Nebraska and, in 2019, became the first freshman Cornhusker since 1972 to start 12 games at center.
The 24-year-old was on the Nebraska track and field team in the shot put for two seasons, but excelled in football and was named to the All-Big Ten Conference third team in his third and final year at University.
Jurgens was drafted by the Eagles in the second round (51st overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft.
He played in 28 games over two NFL seasons and made 11 starts at right guard in 2023, but injured his foot in Week 4 of last season and was placed on injured reserve.
Jurgens has huge shoes to fill in 2024 and will be responsible for handing the ball to QB Jalen Hurts and orchestrating the Eagles’ “unstoppable” Tush Push play.
Kelce, meanwhile, is currently enjoying his time away from the sport and recently made an incredible appearance at WrestleMania 40.
He also took his award-winning podcast New Heights on the road for a live special and received his degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Jason has a ton of options on the table for his next career move and is reportedly being sought by many major TV networks for a broadcast role next season.
ESPN, NBC, CBS and Amazon Prime would all have interest in securing Kelce, with ESPN in particular seriously focusing on Jason to be the focus of “Monday Night Football’s” “Countdown” pregame show.
Other reports suggest Kelce could join Amazon and take his podcast with him, while a superstar from another sport said he was willing to train Jason to be his next superstar.
