Jason Kelce explains how Brandon Graham sacrificed his body for one last shot at Super Bowl glory

Jason Kelce just heaped a ton of praise on his former teammate, Brandon Graham, for the conclusion of his NFL career. Graham spent 14 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted Graham with the 13th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

During that time, he won two Super Bowls with the team, the second coming this past season in his final year with the Eagles. Last week, Graham officially announced his retirement from football in a press conference.

On a recent episode of his podcast, "New Heights," Jason Kelce offered his thoughts on Graham's retirement.

He praised Graham for putting his already injured body through torture to make it to the Super Bowl, and he tore his tricep in the Super Bowl this past January.

"He retired on Tuesday, and, you know, the press conference was very emotional. Listen, I've been talking to BG for a long time, and, obviously, he made it known before the season it was going to be his final year. But he was playing so good before his tricep injury. I was like, man, is he going to do it again? And he still could—like, he could definitely still play. He rushed it.

"He wanted to play in the Super Bowl really bad and ended up re-tearing his tricep in the Super Bowl. It just tells you the type of competitor and person he is, and just what a pit bull he was for the Philadelphia Eagles for 15 years. Even though he announced before the season he was going to retire, it's hard to make that announcement official. And I think that's why you see such an emotional moment out of the guy.

"And, as someone who's been there before, like, you know, you put so much into this game. The finality of it happening—no matter how much you thought about it or talked about it—is intense. And I don't know that there's anybody, in my tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, that put more into the game as a player and as a teammate. He loved football. He loved his teammates."

Eagles have huge hole to fill with Brandon Graham departure

NFL: Super Bowl LIX-Kansas City Chiefs at Philadelphia Eagles - Source: Imagn

The Eagles had seen tremendous success these past two seasons with their offensive and defensive trenches. Having arguably the most dominant offensive and defensive lines in football, the Eagles were able to dominate games up front for the most part. Losing a veteran presence such as Graham on the defensive side of the ball will be difficult to replace.

However, with a deep draft class at defensive line in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, perhaps Philadelphia can find a formidable replacement for the Philadelphia legend.

The Eagles currently have the 32nd pick in the draft after winning the Super Bowl, so it will be interesting to see if Philadelphia decides to use their selection to fill the void left behind by Graham.