Kelce’s 2012 season over, trainers opt for surgery

Jason Kelce’s season is over. There’s no telling if he’ll trim the beard.

The Eagles placed their starting center on the injured reserve list yesterday after a follow-up exam showed Kelce’s partial ACL tear was too severe. Doctors fixed Kelce’s fully torn MCL and he’ll undergo ACL reconstruction surgery on his right knee in three to four weeks, according to head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder.

“Most of those ACLs go from anywhere from six to 12 months,” Burkholder said on a conference call. “We like to take about nine months if we can and that’ll take us into training camp next year.”

The fact that Kelce only had a partial tear won’t speed up the recovery time.

“It’s not that they’ll actually repair his torn ligament that’s [partially torn], they’ll actually replace his ligament with a tendon,” Burkholder said.

Burkholder admitted that having two bad ligaments complicates things, but didn’t think that the injury might be career-threatening.

“He doesn’t have any other damage in his knee in terms of joint surfaces or his meniscus, nerves, blood vessels or any of that,” he said. “That’s a good, straightforward injury even though it’s two ligaments.”

Dallas Reynolds will serve as the team’s starting center for the remainder of the season. The Eagles also made a roster move and signed Steve Vallos, a backup center who was cut after training camp.