Philadelphia Eagles legendary center Jason Kelce has been making his appearance known during training camp.
During practice, offensive lineman Willie Lampkin revealed that Kelce was working with him on his technique ahead of the Eagles' upcoming preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. Lampkin said Kelce was focused on helping him clean up specific areas of his game.
"Really, just working on some things that I needed to tune up for the game this Saturday."
Kelce's involvement extended beyond his work with Lampkin. At one point during practice, the former Eagles center lined up as a pass rusher against veteran offensive tackle Lane Johnson.
After a prior practice, Kelce reportedly worked with center Jake Majors for over half an hour. Kelce held a blocking bag for Majors as the young center worked through different techniques, while also offering instruction and feedback.
Kelce and Lampkin also share an interesting part of their football journeys. Both were viewed as undersized offensive linemen entering the NFL. Kelce was selected by Philadelphia in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL draft with the 191st overall pick. At the time, his projection was as a career backup who wasn't guaranteed to stick in the league.
The Cincinnati product instead went on to play 13 seasons in the NFL all with the Eagles. He earned first-team All-Pro honors six times, helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl and is a surefire Hall of Famer.
Much of Kelce's development was shaped by longtime Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, one of the premier position coaches of all time.
"No one has been more influential or meaningful to my success on the field and my career than Stout," Kelce said.
Now, with Stoutland departing from the Eagles, the responsibility of developing the new generation of offensive linemen in Philadelphia falls to new offensive line coach Chris Kuper. While Kelce is not officially on Kuper's coaching staff, his involvement in training camp with the younger players, players he never played with, shows his love of football and the Philadelphia organization.
Johnson, who was teammates with Kelce for 10 seasons, believes he would fit perfectly in new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion's system and will do his best to get one more season from Kelce.
"I think Kelce would've loved this offense. I think he would've done really well in this offense," Johnson said. "But I don't think that's going to entice him to come back any time soon … He's retired. But I'll see if I can entice him about coming back."
