Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson All-Pros Once Again
Lane Johnson couldn’t get onto the Pro Bowl team, but the Eagles' right tackle was picked as a second-team All-Pro by a panel of 50 Associated Press voters on Friday.
Darius Slay made it to the Pro Bowl, but only one AP voter felt the Eagles cornerback deserved a vote to make All-Pro, so he didn’t make either first or second team.
Then, there’s Jason Kelce. Certainly not last or least.
The Eagles center earned his fourth first-team All-Pro nod, becoming just the fourth center since 1970 to accomplish that. The other three are in the Hall of Fame: Dermonti Dawson and Mike Webster with six each and Dwight Stephenson with five.
Kelce has a string of 122 straight starts on his Hall of Fame resume as well, a case that won’t be heard for five years after he retires, and who knows when that will be, though it could be the end of the season.
He would walk away on top of his game and with the Eagles appearing to be an ascending team under head coach Nick Sirianni.
It would have been easier for him to retire at the end of last season, when the Eagles went 4-11-1 and seemed in utter chaos after Doug Pederson was fired just three years removed from winning a Super Bowl.
“It’s been great,” said Kelce earlier in the week when asked how much this season has meant to him after the team’s struggles in 2020. “Obviously I’m really proud of how the team has fought thus far and where we’ve come from.
"We still got, hopefully, some games left here, so I don’t want to look in retrospect too much. The thing isn’t over yet. I’m really happy with the way our team improved, continued to get better, continued to work, and I look forward to doing that again this week.”
Lane Johnson practices for Sunday's playoff game against the Bucs.
Philadelphia Eagles
Only six offensive lines in Eagles history have featured multiple All-Pro selections and Jeff Stoutland has coached three of those four over the past nine seasons.
They are:
2013 – Jason Peters and Evan Mathis.
2017 – Kelce and Johnson.
2021 – Kelce and Johnson.
Running back Miles Sanders sang the praises of Kelce and Johnson when asked about them being named All-Pro.
“Those two guys right there, those are Hall of Famers in the making,” he said. “I can’t wait. I respect the heck out of both of those guys. They come to work each and every day, ready to get better, attention to detail, especially Kelce. He’s amazing, honestly.
"That’s how I describe him. There’s no center in this league that’s close to him, honestly. The stuff that he does, the stuff that he plays through. It’s amazing. It’s crazy. All my respect goes to them.
“I think Lane Johnson shouldn’t just get All-Pro. He deserves Pro Bowl. But All-Pro is a little better. That’s legit. Those guys come to work each and every day, ready to get better, no matter how long they’ve been in this league.
"They’re still the best of the best. I’m proud of them. I’m super excited for them. I know the running back room is excited for them. It’s been an historic year, too.”
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Indeed, the Eagles rushed for the most yards in franchise history with 2,715.
Frankly, Jordan Mailata probably deserved a vote. Maybe even a selection.
The left tackle has settled nicely into his job after arriving from the rugby fields of Australia in 2018 without ever having played a down of football in his life. He played in 914 snaps this season, allowing just three sacks while committing seven penalties.
Trent Williams was named first team. He played 936 snaps with only sack allowed and seven penalties.
Rookie Rashawn Slater was second team. He played 1,116 snaps with for sacks surrendered and six penalties.
It’s a close call, but to not get a vote is curious, to say the least.
Another surprise, though perhaps not as much as the slights to Slay and Mailata, was kicker Jake Elliott. He didn’t get a single vote despite missing just three field goals, all from the 40- to 49-yard range, making all three kicks from 50-plus yards, and converting all 44 PATs.
FIND THE LINK TO THE AP's ALL-PRO TEAMS HERE:
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
