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This might be the swan song for Travis Kelce.
When asked about possibly retiring this week, the 35-year-old Chiefs tight end said that he might want to play for three more years.
“I don’t know, hopefully still playing football,” he said in respone to a question about what he’d be doing three years from now. “I love doing this. I love coming into work every day, and I feel like I still got a lot of good football left in me. We’ll see what happens.”
But NFL Network reported Saturday that in fact, Kelce may retire in the aftermath of Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX, where his Chiefs look to beat the Eagles for the second time in three years.
“Kelce is undecided about whether he wants to play during the 2025 season,” Ian Rapoport said Saturday, adding that there’s “no lock he plays next year.” He also wrote that “Kelce’s decision could hinge on the results of Sunday’s game.”
Rapoport pointed out Kelce can make more money after he retires, and it’s clearly true. In addition to his ubiquitous ad campaigns for insurance, beer, and pharmaceutical companies, Kelce has a budding acting career and sold his New Heights podcast to Amazon for more than $100 million.
Kelce hosts New Heights with his brother, Jason, who immediately retired in the locker room after his Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs last year.
The three-year, $100-plus million Amazon deal is more money in salary than Travis Kelce has made in his entire NFL career. His relationship with Taylor Swift has made him one of the most famous men in America.
At least one well-known NFL analyst ripped Kelce’s conditioning at the start of the 2024 season, accusing him of being out of shape from spending the summer partying and globetrotting with Swift.
Tight end is a notoriously physically punishing position, and Kelce has rarely missed a game—other than when the dominant Chiefs have rested players—since knee surgery cost him the entire 2013 season. His 823 yards receiving and three touchdowns in 2024 were career lows, though he erupted in the Chiefs’ divisional win over the Texans with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
