Hardest job in Philly? Impossible task of replacing Jason Kelce

NEW ORLEANS – Jason Kelce is everywhere but the football field following his retirement from the NFL, a 13-year career all spent with the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Cam Jurgens took over the starting center role with practically impossible shoes to fill, but Kelce’s replacement on the gridiron hasn’t made his absence noticeable where it matters most for the Eagles. 

“I think he’s done a phenomenal job,” Philadelphia left guard Landon Dickerson said of Jurgens. “I mean, everybody’s going to compare him to (Kelce). But Cam is Cam. He’s going to do his own thing. He’s filled the role of playing center for the Philadelphia Eagles extremely well.” 

Jurgens, a third-year player from Nebraska, earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2024. 

The role he stepped into never affected him, at least publicly. 

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“I’m not trying to replace anybody. I’m just trying to be the best player I can be,” Jurgens said before the Eagles’ Week 1 game in Brazil. “That’s all I really care about. I mean, there’s gonna be scrutiny. Doesn’t really matter who I (replace).”

There hasn’t been much to criticize. Behind two elite offensive tackles in Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson (both second-team All-Pro selections in 2024) – and a strong interior of Dickerson, Jurgens and Mekhi Becton, a reclamation project turned suitable starter – Eagles running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards during the regular season.

For Jurgens, serendipity played a part in his role from the cattle farm he was raised on to the stage of the Super Bowl. 

“I got drafted to the best location,” Jurgens said Monday night. “I got to learn from (Kelce). I got to learn from everybody in that room.” 

Jurgens played 35 snaps during his rookie regular season (nine in the playoffs) and didn’t hit the field in Super Bowl 57. He entered 2023 as the starting right guard, playing alongside Kelce, but missed six games due to injury. The experience was nonetheless invaluable, Eagles offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland said. 

“I don’t know that any of this would have ever happened for him had he not played the right guard spot and had a chance to be next to maybe the greatest center that ever played,” Stoutland said. 

Jurgens purposefully sat next to Kelce in every meeting. Listening to calls being changed at the line of scrimmage and organizing protections in the heat of the moment – whether it was during walkthrough or a game – while next to him, Stoutland said, “you have no idea how much that (helped).” 

How Jason Kelce helped Eagles pick Cam Jurgens: ‘We nailed that one’

Kelce’s curiosity is partially why Jurgens wound up with the Eagles. 

“Kelce always wants to learn everything, always wants to learn something,” Stoutland said. “And he’d say ‘Hey Stout, you mind if I come up and watch some tape with you? On how you evaluate players and stuff?’” 

One day during the early part of 2022, they pulled up the guy from Nebraska’s tape. 

“(Kelce) was like, ‘Wow, this guy,’” Stoutland recalled. “So he actually had a little part in that.” 

Stoutland had his “parameters” for evaluating centers, and Jurgens certainly fell within them.

“Now, what are the chances someone’s gonna be there when your time is up on the board?’ Stoutland said. ‘A lot of things have to happen. It has to be like a roulette ball almost, you know, waiting to hit your number.” 

Jurgens’ name had yet to be called when the Eagles went on the clock in the second round of the 2022 draft (No. 51 overall). 

“We nailed that one,” Stoutland said. “I didn’t think he’d be around at that point, to be honest with you.”

Jurgens was recruited to Nebraska as a positionless athlete and entered the program as a tight end before moving to center. Eagles backup center Nick Gates said he can tell Jurgens touched the ball in his youth.  

“He’s a hell of an athlete, so that’s really cool to see him get out there, especially with the way we run certain plays, like our draws and stuff like that,” Gates told USA TODAY Sports. “That wouldn’t work without an athletic center and (him being) able to pull around and get around and get up on linebackers. It opens up a lot in our playbook.” 

Even though Jurgens, 25, is four years younger than his backup, Gates has noticed the way Jurgens prepares himself every week. 

“He teaches me a lot,” Gates said. “I can learn a lot from a young guy. It’s been pretty cool.”

Former NFL offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, a Super Bowl 56 champion with the Los Angeles Rams and now an analyst for Amazon, had a chance to connect with Jurgens after he accompanied Kelce to the Eagles’ wild-card round win over the Green Bay Packers last month. 

Listening to Kelce and Jurgens go over some plays during their conversation was proof of how much Jurgens desires feedback, Whitworth said. 

“He’s got that demeanor, you can tell – a lot of the good centers I’ve been around (are) really never satisfied with every little part of the communication and how things fall. Like, ‘this could be better, that could be better,’ really driven that way,” Whitworth told USA TODAY Sports.

Having Johnson and Mailata to neutralize edge rushers makes Jurgens’ job easier than most centers, Whitworth said. Who his position coach is also helps.

“Stoutland is Stoutland for a reason,” Whitworth said. “He’s unbelievable and a great coach and, nothing to take away from Cam, that’s an unbelievable group that he’s getting to do with it, too.” 

That doesn’t diminish the external pressure Jurgens faced.

“I mean, what a task it is to replace a guy who’s an all-time player like Jason,” said Whitworth, who said Jurgens is “just a big ball of muscle” built for playing center. “It’s a really tough one.” 

Bringing the juice – and a mullet

Jurgens was the best man in former Nebraska and Eagles tight end Jack Stoll’s wedding over the summer, and Jurgens surprised the groom by showing up in a matching mullet. The hairdo has remained throughout the season. He said he might cut it after the Super Bowl. 

“It feels good on me, man, I will say that,” Jurgens said. 

Ready to fill any role – whether it’s being best man for a mullet or replacing arguably the most beloved athlete in Philadelphia history – comes easy to Jurgens. 

“Cam’s awesome. He just brings the juice and the energy,” Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said. “You see where his career is probably gonna take him. It’s gonna be a really special place, and we feel very fortunate to have him.”