Jason Kelce cites Vita Vea as a reason why he decided to retire

Vita Vea has a long list of accomplishments since entering the NFL in 2018. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent the 12th overall pick on Vea in the 2018 draft and haven't regretted it, as the former Washington defensive tackle has been an incredible addition to the Bucs stout defense.

Well, Vea has another accomplishment he can add to his résumé when his career is in the books. He apparently played a major role in why former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce opted to retire. Kelce spoke with Ryen Russillo on his podcast and spoke about what pushed him to retire and Kelce responded "What forced me into retirement was knees that no longer want to block guys like Vita Vea."

You can hear Kelce discuss this at the 22:00 mark of the podcast. What it sounds like to me is that Vea played a vital role in Kelce deciding to hang up his cleats and call it a career and who could blame him? Vea is a beast.

Jason Kelce says his knees could handle blocking Vita Vea anymore

As mentioned throughout this piece, Vea has been a wrecking ball throughout his NFL career. He's spent all seven years of his professional career in Tampa Bay with the Bucs and has racked up 23.5 sacks during that time. His best year came in 2022 when he had 6.5 sacks on the year.

Kelce's final NFL game was against Vea and the Buccaneers with the good guys winning that game in dominant fashion to send the Eagles home early and put the finishing touches on Kelce's prestigious NFL career. Kelce played in the NFL for 13 seasons, all in Philadelphia and was a six-time All-Pro. He'll be in the Hall of Fame someday and hopefully so will Vea.

Unfortunately, the Bucs got some rough news with Vea after upsetting the Lions over the weekend. Vea was diagnosed with an MCL sprain and will miss time for the Bucs but it wasn't as bad as it could have been so that's at least a plus.