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Sielski: Despite Kelce's hopes, Eagles should consider other options at center

In a corner of the NovaCare Center locker room in December 2013, Jason Kelce could contemplate a future in which his career with the Eagles would end only on his terms.

In a corner of the NovaCare Center locker room in December 2013, Jason Kelce could contemplate a future in which his career with the Eagles would end only on his terms.

He was about to finish his third season in the NFL, and two months later, as soon as he was eligible to ball up his rookie contract and toss it into the nearest wastebasket, the Eagles obliged, signing him to a six-year deal that to this day makes him the 10th-highest-paid center in the league. Chip Kelly was the team's head coach then, and Kelce seemed the ideal center for Kelly's offense - undersize but smart and fast and adept at getting downfield to throw the kinds of blocks that break big plays. More, Kelce wanted to stay in Philadelphia. He had grown up in Cleveland as a fan of the Indians, and it had saddened him to watch their great teams of the mid-1990s disintegrate as one star after another signed somewhere else.

"When they left, it kind of felt they weren't part of the city, weren't really invested like I thought they were," Kelce said. "So it's always been a goal of mine to really stick in one spot."

But this is the NFL, and these are the Eagles. And as Howie Roseman made clear Wednesday, there are Kelce's goals, and there is reality. In speaking to reporters at the Senior Bowl, Roseman didn't promise that Kelce would return next season: "It's hard to go into each player, and I'm not saying as it relates to Kelce. But if I start answering the question to Jason Kelce, that opens the door to five or six other guys." If nothing else, that answer leaves no doubt that Kelce's status on the roster is an open question, and given the circumstances, it should be.

Already, the Eagles are bumping their heads against the salary-cap's ceiling, and a recent report on Phillyvoice.com that they were considering moving on from Kelce seemed designed, at a minimum, to remind him of the leverage they have over him. During the regular season, he appears weekly on a sports-talk station here. For years, he and his girlfriend, Kylie McDevitt, have mentored a Philadelphia boy who suffers from an intellectual disability. He has established roots in this community, as he hoped he would, and now he knows: There's no guarantee that he will stay, but if he's willing to take a pay cut to do so, well, the Eagles might not think that's the worst idea.

But even if Kelce were amenable to renegotiating his contract, the Eagles would be negligent if they didn't consider a change at center anyway. He will turn 30 in November, and in case you'd forgotten, Kelly isn't the Eagles' head coach anymore, and they aren't running his offense. Doug Pederson's system is more conventional and, as such, could function better with a more conventional center, one who is bigger and more physical along the line of scrimmage than Kelce is. At 6-foot-3, Kelce weighs just 282 pounds, which makes him at least 13 pounds lighter than any of the nine higher-paid centers in the league. If you've wondered why the Eagles don't have Carson Wentz - 6-foot-5 and 237 pounds - run more quarterback sneaks in short-yardage situations, remember that Wentz's primary blocker on such a play would outweigh him by only 45 pounds.

For a fraction of what they're paying Kelce now, the Eagles could sign a center more suited for the kind of power running game that - from the Atlanta Falcons to the Dallas Cowboys to the Pittsburgh Steelers - still serves teams well and that would help Wentz continue his development. (Acquiring the appropriate running backs for such an approach, of course, is another matter entirely.) The average annual value (AAV) of Kelce's contract, according to the database OverTheCap.com, is $6.3 million. The highest AAV of any of the eight centers available in free agency this offseason is Joe Hawley's $1.7 million. Hawley is 6-3, 302 pounds, and 11 months younger than Kelce. Even Isaac Seumalo (6-3, 305), who played guard and tackle during his rookie season with the Eagles, was primarily a center at Oregon State and could, in theory, return to that position, though moving him there at Kelce's expense would threaten to compromise the overall offensive-line depth.

No matter their decision, the Eagles are a long way from that time when Kelce was their only option, or maybe even their best one.

"With each year that you get experience, you get experience in a city," he said back in 2013. "You get more comfortable in an organization. It just continually develops. I would imagine every year, things start mentally slowing down. It just felt like the game was so much faster as a rookie. Now it's normal. It's the game, the preparation, everything - it's a lot easier. I would imagine that would continue as you get more experience."

He had no reason to think otherwise then. But this is the NFL, and these are the Eagles. Everything else got harder. It usually does.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski