By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
If there is one thing that spoke to the toughness and depth of the Eagles roster in 2018, it was how the team fought through injuries.
Following the season, I wrote a piece examining the injuries that I considered to be major in 2018 and concluded that over half (nearly 53%) suffered from such an injury.
In his meeting with the press Monday, center Jason Kelce remarked that everyone suffers bruises and dings during the season. Then it was revealed that his “dings” included a broken foot, a Grade-Two MCL sprain and an elbow injury bad enough to force him to wear a brace.
I don’t know about the rest of the fan base, but those are injuries I’d consider major, so add another player to my previous metrics.
Earlier in the season, there were reports that Kelce was considering retirement. While he did acknowledge that retirement had crossed his mind, the fact that he signed an extension is beyond good news for the Eagles.
In 2017, Kelce put up the best rating for a center that PFF has ever seen. They rated him as the 25th best player in the league following the season and was the top player at any position on the offensive line, according to the metrics.
Kelce was again the top center in 2018, according to PFF, though he was not the top offensive lineman.
Jason Kelce finished as the NFL's highest-graded center in 2018 pic.twitter.com/rEbKHoGPj0
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) February 27, 2019
While he certainly dropped from his ranking of 25, he still cracked PFF’s top 101 at 64, where only one interior offensive lineman (Shaq Mason) was ranked ahead of him.
There were a few games where Kelce missed a few snaps and didn’t look as good as he did in 2017, but there were no points where anyone questioned whether he was still elite. Imagine what he could have done without those three significant injuries.
Knowing that Kelce suffered those three major injuries in addition to the minor ones should give Eagles fans a lot of excitement as Kelce should improve his play for 2019 when he returns to 100% health. It should also increase the love he receives from the Philadelphia fan base, if that’s even possible.
