What it takes for Jason Kelce to be the Eagles’ ironman

Eagles center Jason Kelce rarely shies away from discussing any given topic, whether he’s chopping it up with his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, on their New Heights podcast, or holding court with the media in front of his locker room stall.

However, when it comes to inquiries about his regular-season consecutive starts streak, which is set to hit a franchise-high 145 games against the New York Jets, Kelce punts better than Braden Mann does.

“I’m not superstitious about much,” Kelce said on Thursday, “but I’m not talking about that.”

After all, there is plenty of time between the moment that those words left Kelce’s lips and the first Eagles series at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, and thus opportunity for something to get in the way of his availability. There isn’t enough wood on the planet for knocking that could conjure up some luck and ward off the fickle football gods.

It takes some luck and a whole lot of toughness to play 145 straight regular-season games, according to former Eagles right tackle Jon Runyan, who has held the franchise record of 144 before Kelce tied it against the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday.

Runyan’s ironman streak extends well beyond 144 games with the Eagles. He racked up 190 consecutive regular-season games, including his stint with the Tennessee Titans from 1996-1999. Runyan also started in all 18 playoff games he played in for the two franchises.

The key to being available for all of those games isn’t exactly a secret:

“I know Jason has dealt with this, too,” Runyan told The Inquirer. “You’re playing hurt. It doesn’t matter. It takes a different kind of mindset.”

While Runyan didn’t suffer any “catastrophic” injuries by his own definition throughout his nine seasons with the Eagles, the ailments he sustained can’t be classified as mere hangnails.

On Oct. 18, 2007, Runyan broke his tailbone when he slipped in the training room while getting into a tub. He sat out of practice the next day, but he still played that weekend against the Chicago Bears.

The following week against the Minnesota Vikings, 4 1/2 hours before kickoff, Runyan recalled laying on the floor of the locker room unable to move. The late Tom Heckert, who was the general manager at the time, checked on Runyan and asked him if he could play.

“Am I gonna have to scratch you today?” he asked Runyan. “Deactivate you?”

“Where’s the anesthesiologist?” Runyan responded. “Because I need novocaine injected in my tailbone to even play.”

Still, Runyan would be hurting during the game as he jogged up to the line of scrimmage, put his hand in the dirt, and squatted low. The moment the ball was snapped, however, the pain vanished for a few seconds until the referee blew the play dead. Then, the pain came right back and the cycle repeated.

Runyan played that mental game throughout his playing career, especially as he grew older and accumulated more wear and tear. He said he always wanted to be out on the field, thwarting opportunities for the young kids behind him to prove that they could take his job.

More than 13 1/2 years removed from his last NFL game, Runyan considers his playing through injury as part of the job.

“You’re going to beat the crap out of your body on a daily basis,” Runyan said. “I was fortunate to play as long as I did and, frankly, lucky to not have a catastrophic injury that was actually gonna cost me time.”

In the interest of self-preservation as he aged into the twilight of his career, Runyan said he learned how to conserve his energy on certain plays so he could go all-out on others. He couldn’t throw his body around with abandon as he did when he first entered the league.

From the outside looking in, Runyan said that Kelce has been able to reach this milestone because “he’s smart as hell” with how he gets his job done.

“A lot of people sometimes will get scared of making a decision like that to actually back off and kind of control the tempo a little bit, if you will,” Runyan said. “And I think he’s smart enough and understands the game and understands what he has to do to actually execute his job that he can find different ways to do it. That’s really, I think, the key to longevity.”

But when asked if he has had to adapt his game throughout the course of his 13-year career, Kelce said he didn’t know. He did acknowledge that with older age comes a more intricate plan designed by the Eagles’ strength and sports science departments to get his body ready for each game.

That plan involves stretching, although Kelce admitted that he’s still not a big fan of the activity. From spending time on the trainer’s table to ensuring that he hits his max power in the weight room once a month, Kelce’s commitment to being available doesn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

“He’s just tough as a shovel,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “Just a tough dude. I’ve seen him, elbows, braces, knee braces. I feel like he’s had, really, he’s been nicked up quite a bit throughout his career, but I just think about how he takes care of his body and things like that is really why he’s played so well.”

His detailed preparation off the field translates to his consistent performance on the field. Through five games this season, Kelce has played 373 offensive snaps and has not allowed a sack, according to Pro Football Focus. He has allowed only two pressures total — one hit and one hurry.

Backup right guard Sua Opeta, who started his first game of the season alongside Kelce against the Rams, said that Kelce’s “relentless effort” on the field is a quality that he tries to emulate.

“The man doesn’t have any quit in him,” Opeta said. “He just fights and fights and fights and seeing that on a day-to-day basis is really inspiring and makes me want to play harder.”

Kelce wasn’t ready to open up about the significance of his milestone on Thursday. Understandably so; he hasn’t reached it yet.

But in some ways, Kelce has already shown the significance of playing 145 straight games in an Eagles uniform through the glimpses he has provided into his life off the field. His Kelce documentary portrayed the challenges of navigating an injury-riddled, time-consuming football career as a father who prioritizes spending time with his family and being active with his three daughters.

In the film, he revealed that he considered retirement last season. He can’t play without taking heavy anti-inflammatory medication. He played throughout the season with a torn ligament in his ankle. He’s fearful of the prospect of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy and the potentially negative long-term impact it could have on his life and his loved ones.

» READ MORE: In a culture of faux ‘authenticity,’ Eagles’ Jason Kelce shows what the real thing looks like

Defensive end Brandon Graham, who has witnessed the entirety of Kelce’s tenure with the Eagles, said that the documentary helps contextualize the sacrifices Kelce has made to play 145 consecutive games.

“Not only is he balling, but you’ve gotta ball outside of this, too, at home,” defensive end Brandon Graham said.

“I just think it’s cool to see what all goes into it when you bring up what Kelce’s done. To see it on his Amazon video and to know that it ain’t as easy as it looks.”

As for Runyan, he’s content with seeing his record usurped by Kelce, whom he considers to be like an old high school friend bonded by the “offensive lineman mentality” even though they never played together.

“Records are made to be broken,” Runyan said. “There’s nothing you can do about it at this point. I did what I could do. It was awesome.

“But it’s awesome I’ll still be No. 2 on the list as of Monday morning.”

The Eagles visit the New York Jets on Sunday. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest story lines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from MetLife Stadium.