Travis Kelce has a lot on his mind right now, just three days after he and the Kansas City Chiefs came up short in their quest to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
Probably the last thing the veteran tight end should be thinking about right now is whether he wants to continue his NFL career in the fall.
So he’s not thinking about it yet.
“I know everybody wants to know whether or not I‘m playing next year,” Kelce said on Wednesday’s episode of “New Heights,” the podcast he co-hosts with older brother and retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. “Right now I am just kicking everything down the road. I am kicking every can I can down the road. I’m not making any crazy decisions.”
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Kelce does seem to recognize that after 12 seasons, 10 Pro Bowl selections, five Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl victories, retirement is something that at least should be considered. He finished the 2024-25 regular season with the lowest yards receiving (823), yards per catch (8.5) and touchdowns (three) in his career.
After a standout game against Houston (seven catches for 117 yards and one touchdown) in the wild-card round of the playoffs, Kelce had little impact through the rest of the playoffs, with two catches for 19 yards and no touchdowns during a 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game and four catches for 39 yards and no touchdowns during a 40-22 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
“The fact that we keep going to these AFC championships and these Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league,” Kelce said.
“That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body, and it’s a lot of time in the building, focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand, every challenge that you set up for yourself. That process can be grueling. It can weigh on you. It can make you better and it can drive you crazy at the same time.
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“And right now, it was one of those things where it was kind of driving me crazy this year, and I think that it happens as you tail off towards the back nine of your career, as you see yourself or not feel yourself having the success that you once used to have. Man, it’s a tough pill to swallow. And then on top of that to not be there in the biggest moments, knowing your team is counting on you — it’s just a tough reality.”
Kelce has more on his plate these days than football. He might be considered by many fans to be a future Hall of Famer, but to at least some portion of the population Kelce is better known as the pitchman for countless companies or as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.
“I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,” Kelce said of his football future. “I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back that it’s gonna be a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-assing it and I’m fully here for them. I think I could play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or if it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human, as a person to take on all that responsibility.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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