Eagles lock up Jason Kelce with one-year extension, making him NFL’s highest-paid center

A day after retaining one of their impending free agents in Brandon Graham, the Philadelphia Eagles have rewarded another one of their own players, announcing a one-year contract extension for Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce.

The 31-year-old Kelce had two more seasons remaining on his current deal, but the extension keeps him under contract with Philadelphia through 2021. It also makes him the highest-paid center in the NFL in terms of average salary per season, with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reporting Kelce will make $11 million per year on the extension.

Kelce’s extension not only marks a continued commitment by the Eagles to retain their own talent but confirms personnel chief Howie Roseman as one of the league’s top cap manipulators. Philadelphia entered the 2019 offseason with the least amount of projected cap space among the NFL’s 32 teams, according to Spotrac, but have now extended two of their longtime starters before the start of free agency on March 13.

“Obviously, it’s a tremendous gesture by the team,” Kelce said, according to the Eagles’ website. “They didn’t have to do anything like this. I’m really happy to be in Philadelphia — I have been my whole career. I love being part of this organization.”

A sixth-round draft pick of the Eagles in 2011, Kelce started all 16 games as a rookie and has been the team’s full-time center ever since. He appeared in just two games in 2012 because of injury but has otherwise missed only four starts in his career. A two-time Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection, he rebounded from a down year in 2016 to play an instrumental role in the team’s Super Bowl LII run. He’s now on his second extension with the team after inking a six-year, $37.5 million deal in 2014.