Jason Kelce Asked Eagles Trainer Going Through Cancer to Tape His Ankles One Last Time for Retirement Speech

Mar. 15, 2025

Jason Kelce and Joe O’Pella.Photo:Kevin Sabitus/Getty; Philadelphia Eagles

Kevin Sabitus/Getty; Philadelphia Eagles

Jason Kelce’s legacy extends far beyond the football field.

While announcinghis retirement from the NFLafter 13 seasons on Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles center, 36, delivered a moving speech — but he also shared an emotional moment with a longtime friend, Eagles trainer Joe O’Pella, behind the scenes.

O’Pella missed the star’s final game “due to cancer,” which he was diagnosed with during Kelce’s final season, the trainer shared in anInstagram poston Tuesday. O’Pella wrote that he was disappointed he was not able to care for Kelce in his final moments as an Eagle.

O’Pella had been taping Kelce’s ankles and thumbs “everyday for 13 seasons,” and did not know that the Jan. 15 playoff game would be the center’s last, he said. So, he “expressed my regret of not being the last person to ever tape him” — and Kelce had a solution.

Though he would just be sitting in a chair on stage, not taking the field for a game or practice, the Eagles center asked O’Pella to tape him up one last time for his final press conference.

“That’s who he is,” the trainer wrote.

“I remember back in Jason’s 2nd year, when he tore his knee, I went to the head trainer and told him that I needed to do his rehab bc he needed to be treated like an athlete, not a conventional offensive lineman,” O’Pella wrote. “What would occur over the next 12+ years would certainly impact my life in a way I never imagine.”

Jason Kelce.AP Photo/Matt Rourke

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

“And in what would be his final season, when I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo radiation and chemo, he offered his shore house if I needed to get away, and offered to pay for meal services to help my wife and I out,” he wrote, “and he called me randomly when I had been home, too sick to come in bc of chemo, just to check on me and chat about random things.”

“That’s who he is as a person,” he added.

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Jason Kelce hugs Travis Kelce after his retirement press conference.AP Photo/Matt Rourke

After sharing these memories, O’Pella wrote that he hopes “these stories can add to an already unbelievable legacy.”

“Congratulations to the entire Kelce family on a Hall of Fame career on and off the field,” he added. “To Kylie’s husband; Wyatt, Elliotte, and Bennett’s dad; the Eagles’ center; Philadelphia’s icon, and my brother: Jason, congratulations on retirement and here’s to the future. I love ya.”

source: people.com