Travis Kelce became overwhelmed with emotion while speaking with brother Jason about his retirement from football on their latest New Heights podcast.
Jason, 36, announced his retirement on Monday after 13 years in the NFL as a Philadelphia Eagles player, with the legendary center breaking down in tears throughout an emotional farewell speech.
In the crowd at Philadelphia’s practice facility, Travis was also seen shedding tears alongside mom Donna and dad Ed as his brother waved goodbye to both the Eagles and the sport he has dedicated his life to for close to two decades.
On this week’s edition of New Heights, the Kelce brothers discussed Jason’s decision to bow out from the NFL in more detail, as Travis admitted to wanting his older sibling to play on next season.
‘We did not talk about much of your retirement,’ the Kansas City Chiefs tight end said. ‘And I wanted to make sure that you didn’t feel pressure from me to keep going, knowing that I wanted you to keep going. I wanted you to keep playing this game.
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Travis Kelce became overwhelmed with emotion while speaking with brother Jason about his retirement from football
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Jason Kelce has brought the curtain down on his NFL career after 13 years with the Eagles
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While discussing Jason’s decision on New Heights, an emotional Travis burst into tears
Jason joked: ‘Why didn’t you tell me this? I’d have changed my mind.’
After claiming his brother has ‘always been a step ahead’, and Jason pointed out he is the older of the two, Travis then burst into tears while opening up on the emptiness he already feels without him in the sport.
‘It’s always been like I’ve always had this flotation device right there. It’s erm… to have you out of it man it feels empty… and it definitely erm… it feels like it’s complete you know,’ he said while fighting back the tears.
‘I hear ya,’ Jason replied.
Travis and Jason enjoyed an iconic journey as the NFL’s most famous brothers over the last decade, with the pair even locking horns in a historic Super Bowl last year.
And the Chiefs tight end is gutted to see the back of his brother on the football field, heaping praise on him for showing him the ropes in the sport.
‘It was a fun-a** journey to watch,’ Travis continued. ‘Like I said yesterday man, I just appreciate you showing me the way and bringing us all on the journey with you big guy.
Jason replied: ‘We showed each other the way. I appreciate it. Listen, I’m out of playing but I’m still going to the games. Like I said, you’ve been playing for a long time on your own and I look forward to being able to appreciate and watch your games more, take in the bigger picture of football and everything that it has to offer, while still remaining local in Philadelphia.
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The Kansas City Chiefs tight end admits his brother’s retirement has left him feeling ’empty’
‘I’ll never not be there but I’m definitely looking forward to… I don’t know, it’s a different chapter and in some ways I’ll be able to experience more things and do things I’ve never done before. Which is exciting.
Travis added: ‘It was cool being the tag team of the National Football League! Pretty cool s**.
‘Yeah I didn’t talk to you about [retiring], I let you kind of do your own thing. I couldn’t have been more proud listening to you yesterday. It’s been a lot of emotions, a lot of a sad emotions, lot of exciting emotions.
‘You’ve got the f****ng world in your palm right now dude. You’ve got three little ones that I know you’re dying to watch grow up, it’s a lot of future, exciting future things that we have to look forward to. So yeah, back to the speech – can I see the Kleenex real quick…’
Jason then joked after his teary retirement presser: ‘Sorry I would be crying more but I wasted all of my tears.’
