Kelce laughed heartily when that image was conveyed.
"I was a big fan of Sonic, so I'm going to take that as a compliment," he said.
It wasn't the only compliment Kelce (pronounced "kelsey") got yesterday.
Though Eagles coach Andy Reid tried to dance around it, the competition for the starting center job right now seems to be between Kelce and veteran Jamaal Jackson, who has torn an ACL and a triceps tendon the past two seasons. Mike McGlynn, who started last year after Jackson went down in the opener, doesn't seem to be in the picture. Ditto fringe returnees A.Q. Shipley and Dallas Reynolds.
"I think Kelce's a fine football player," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said yesterday. "He's in the middle of a learning curve. So he's got a lot of hard work and preparation [ahead]. Jamaal's got an awful lot of experience. He's coming off two major injuries the last couple of years."
Mornhinweg said he is "not leery at all" of Jackson's recent injury history, but added: "There's some good competition going on there, two different styles, two different types of player. One with experience, one very young.
"Kelce is an athletic, tough, mean type of player who's really bright. Jamaal, really smart, excellent pass protector, great amount of experience, strong player. Both are very, very good."
The subtext here is, it isn't hard to infer that Jackson (6-4, 325) is a Juan Castillo-type lineman, a powerful mauler. And Kelce, listed maybe a little generously at 6-3, 282, is a Howard Mudd-type lineman, lean and quick. (Mudd came out of retirement to coach the Birds' o-line when Castillo became the defensive coordinator.)
