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Jason Kelce has heaped praise on fellow center Nick Mangold after his tragic death at the age of 41, insisting the New York Jets legend was '10 times the player I was.'
Mangold died on Saturday night following a battle with chronic kidney disease, the Jets announced the following day. His passing came just weeks after he made a desperate plea to find a donor.
The Ohio State star was selected by New York in the first round of the 2006 draft and went on start 164 games for the team across his iconic 11-year stint, earning seven Pro Bowl selections.
And when paying tribute to him on the latest episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce stressed that Mangold was far superior to him as a center.
'You wanna talk about one of the stalwarts, best offensive linemen to ever play the game,' he told younger brother Travis. 'A lot of people come up and tell me, "You're the best center to ever play." I get that from other people, and it's hard to receive that cause I know in my heart that Nick Mangold at his best was 10 times the player that I ever was.
'I could never be that dominant at the center position. Nick was phenomenal. He was unbelievable at pass protection, he was an unbelievably smart leader and getting those guys on the same page, and he would murder people on the run game.
Jason Kelce has claimed that Jets legend Nick Mangold was '10 times' the player he was
Kelce paid tribute to Mangold after his tragic death at 41 following a battle with kidney disease
'He was unbelievable when he was in the NFL, he was unbelievable at Ohio State. He was just a stud in every fashion. It's just a travesty that this happened at such a young age, he's got a whole f***ing family.
'When you think about offensive linemen over the past two decades, like the best of the best, you don't look any further than Nick Mangold.'
Mangold was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder back in 2006 and, earlier this month, he announced that he needed a new kidney, issuing a public plea to fans as he searched for a donor. He was trying to find someone with Type O blood to help him beat the chronic disease.
The Jets great shared four children with his partner, Jenny - Matthew, Eloise, Thomas, and Charlotte.
Travis then added that he was 'rooting' for the Jets to earn their first win of the season on Sunday after his death, which they did against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mangold's former Jets coach Rex Ryan broke down in tears while paying an emotional tribute to him live on ESPN at the weekend, describing him as a 'great young man.'
Ex-teammate Bart Scott, meanwhile, was left stunned at the news of his passing after claiming there was a 'plan in place' for his good friend to beat kidney disease.
The iconic Jets center leaves behind partner Jenny and their four children (pictured)
Mangold, who spent the entirety of his 10-year career with the Jets, died on Saturday night
Scott, who received the heartbreaking news from Jets owner Woody Johnson, said on the Jets' pregame SNY show Sunday: 'A loss for words is really what my initial reaction is. When Woody called me this morning and said that we lost Nick, I said what do you mean we lost Nick?
'We had just got the news and we were so hopeful that there was a plan in place that we were gonna find a way to make sure that we figure it out.
'These are one of those things where you just expect it to go a different way. I was anticipating some type of organ drive or something like that and the story ends with a happy ending, and we all can go on and Nick can be the loving father, teammate and friend.'
'It doesn't feel real,' Scott added. 'It still doesn't feel real. My heart just goes out for his children and his wife and his family. I mean, that was his world and he was their world and he was our world, right? He was bigger than life, right?'
