Eagles GM Howie Roseman opens up on the team’s plans to find a successor to Jason Kelce

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has praised Jason Kelce’s impact both on and off the field in Philadelphia, admitting the former center is “irreplaceable” following his retirement from professional football in March.

Roseman, who has served in the role since 2010 despite also serving as the organization’s executive vice president for the past five years, appeared on ESPN to talk about the Eagles’ approach to finding a successor to Kelce, who has been a key played a role in Philly’s famous ‘tush push’. on offense in recent seasons, as well as the Super Bowl-winning team in 2017.

‘How do you replace someone like that?’ Pat McAfee Show co-host AJ Hawk asked about Kelce. “Can you talk a little bit about what he actually meant to that franchise and the people there and everything related to it, because that guy is just… a real gem. He seems to be someone that I feel like you have to love from all corners of the earth.”

“The best, and you can’t replace that,” Roseman replied. “And I think it would be unfair to even pretend that we’re going to replace Jason Kelce. The person and the player. And I mean, this is a first-ballot HOFer, both on and off the court.

“And so I think for us we have to continue to build the team. It is the ultimate team game to understand that he is a great loss.”

Kelce retired in March after 13 NFL seasons with the Eagles to focus on broadcasting

Roseman also praised one of Kelce’s closest teammates, Fletcher Cox — a defensive tackle drafted just one season after Kelce in 2012. Cox, 33, also retired this offseason.

“Fletcher Cox is a tremendous loss to our organization, our football team,” said the 48-year-old, once Super Bowl-winning front office executive. “All we can do is try to get our young guys around them as much as we can so they can absorb it, so they can see what great players and people they were.

‘But also that in this competition it is not easy to be great in whatever job you have. That you have to work on it. That those guys were our hardest workers. They had an incredible love for the game, an incredible love for this team and this city. And I feel like I definitely wouldn’t be sitting here today without Jason Kelce, and I’m bringing Fletch with me too, because obviously we lost him too.”

Howeman also described the retirement of former defensive tackle Fletcher Cox as a “huge loss”

Roseman and Kelce shook hands following the announcement of Kelce’s NFL retirement in March

At the beginning of the month, Kelce opened up about his move to ESPN as an analyst on the network’s “Monday Night Countdown” pregame show, which McAfee bragged to Roseman after the latter’s aforementioned comments on the former’s show, Thurs.

“You don’t have to rub it in, dude, you don’t have to rub it in that you’re his teammate, you know,” Roseman joked, adding, “You know what, the other thing we’re talking about is just for me as a GM to be able to have these guys and obviously we still have Lane [Johnson] and BG [Brandon Graham] and those guys, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 draft picks, etc.

“To get those guys who have been through everything we’ve been through together and to have those guys and be able to call them and say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about this. How do you think this would affect the team?” I mean special.

“Never replace those guys, but I feel like a lot of those guys that we still have in this building have a chance to be these 10-15 year old Eagles players with a chance to be in the NFL Hall of Fame come.’