Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce admits the franchise will struggle to replace Isaac Seumalo after the guard joined rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency.
Seumalo, 29, spent seven seasons in Philly after being drafted there with the 79 overall pick in the 2016 draft. The Oregon State product was affected by knee and Lisfranc injuries during 2020 and 2021 but bounced back with a career-best year last term en route to the Super Bowl.
After starting every regular-season game for just the second time, Seumalo was named a Pro Bowl alternate for the first time after playing an unheralded role in one of the league's best offensive lines. Kelce certainly appreciated his presence and reckons he is the "smartest player" he has ever shared the locker room live.
"I think he's one of the best guards in the NFL, and I think he has been," Kelce told reporters on Wednesday, May 17, via NFL.com. "I think he's one of the most consistent players I've ever been around, one of the most consistent people I've ever been around.
Kelce continued: "Isaac is a really, really special player. I know we've said that here for a long time, and I still don't think people really truly grasp what he did for our room. And me personally, I think he's probably the smartest player I've ever been around.
"Really, really gifted physically, mentally, across the board. So I think the Steelers are getting a steal, that's a good pun, I guess."
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Seumalo signed a three-year, $24 million contract with Pittsburgh on March 18. At $8 million per season, that is less than half what the Atlanta Falcons forked out when extending Chris Lindstrom for $105 million at $20.5m-a-year and making him the highest-paid guard in the league.
The Steelers will hope the Hawaii-born player can stay healthy again and immediately improve what was a struggling O-line over recent seasons. Meanwhile, the Eagles must find an alternative rather than necessarily replace everything Seumalo once brought to their team.
Kelce knows that will not be easy. "We're not going to replace Isaac, there's going to be someone new in there, and they're going to have their attributes that they're going to excel with."
"I'm looking forward to seeing who does a really good job with that. We have a number of contenders. I mean the Eagles are always drafting people and bringing in talent on the offensive line.
"And it's something for me as an offensive lineman that I sure appreciate, because it's a unit, and a lot of times it's only going to be as good as its weakest link.
The Eagles center continued: "We've had a lot of really good players, and we've been able to weather injuries, and guys have gone on and had success elsewhere, so I look forward to being in the room, going through this offseason, training camp, and season, and figuring out what this unit's about."
