Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce apparently wants to take his ‘foot’ out of football.
On the latest episode of his ‘New Heights’ podcast alongside his brother and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Jason discussed what he considers the scourge of the league: kickers making too many field goals.
The Eagles greats, who jokingly took credit for Travis’ recent return to form, ranted about how easy it has become for kickers to score long-range field goals, even suggesting they should eliminate that position entirely.
“The kickers are doing 60 yards like it’s routine, we need to cut down on these field goals,” Jason said.
“Now it’s too easy to shoot field goals. We have to go to the rugby goals. Kickers shouldn’t influence football games as much as they do now.’
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce proposed tightening uprights on NFL field
For reference, the inside of the goalposts in rugby extends 5.6 meters (18 feet, 4.4 inches), while an NFL goal post extends… 5.64 m (18 feet, 4.4 inches). 6 inches).
‘We need to make kickers much less valuable. That’s not what football is about,’ Jason continued.
‘Me and (former Eagles linebacker) Connor Barwin said this about ten years ago: We need to get specialists out of the NFL. Just kickers and long crosses, the damn punter ruined the game.
Travis chimed in saying, ‘Now everything has to be a Hail Mary? “It adds excitement to the game.”
But Jason wanted nothing to do with that: “Just throw the ball through the uprights.” Why do we have to bring this guy in and kick him? “That doesn’t belong on the football field.”
He then went further by suggesting that instead of sending the ball through the posts, kickers should “just have a big post and just hit the post, that’s three points.”
“I don’t want these guys to come out with soccer cleats and you can’t touch them and make it seem like this is a soccer play.”
Kelce proposed reducing the uprights to the size of a rugby goal, making it 2 inches thinner.
Jason’s brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, disagreed with his stance.
Travis disagreed, saying, “Hey, Harry (Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker) has won a lot of football games for me.”
“Well, yeah, I’m sure you guys are pro-kickers because you guys have a great kicker,” Jason said before congratulating his former kicker, Jake Elliott of the Eagles. “He’s a great kicker too, I just don’t agree with everything about it.”
Considering that kicking the ball has been a part of the game since its inception, it’s not likely that the NFL will ever take this suggestion seriously.
That wasn’t the only topic of discussion between the brothers, as the two also discussed the recent situation with reporters in the locker room.