Travis Kelce was the subject of retirement rumors ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59.
The 35-year-old finally addressed them on a Wednesday episode of his ‘New Heights’ podcast and spoke candidly about his future.
‘I know everybody wants to know whether or not I’m playing next year, and right now, I’m just kicking everything down the road,’ Kelce explained. ‘I’m kicking every can down the road. I’m not making any crazy decisions but right now, the biggest thing is just being there for my teammates and being there for my coaches, understanding that there’s a lot that goes into this thing.’
Kelce acknowledged that while the Chiefs’ championship runs have been both fun and fruitful, it has caused him to play ‘more football than anybody’ over the past five years.
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‘That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body,’ Kelce said. ‘That’s a lot of time spent in the building focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand, every challenge that you set up for yourself. It’s – that process can be grueling. It can weigh on you. It can make you better, or it can drive you crazy at the same time.’
‘Right now, it’s one of those things where it was kind of driving me crazy this year,’ he added. ‘I think that it happens as you kind of tail off towards the back 9 of your career, as SVP (Scott Van Pelt) would say.’
Kelce also admitted he wasn’t playing at the same level to which he was once accustomed. The 2024 season was particularly difficult, as he failed to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards for a second consecutive campaign. He also logged just three touchdowns during the 2024, his lowest total since his rookie year in 2013, during which he didn’t play an offensive snap before having microfracture surgery on his knee.
That was eating at him despite the Chiefs making it to a third consecutive Super Bowl, as he acknowledged.
‘As you see yourself or feel yourself not have the success that you once used to have, man, it’s tough pill to swallow,’ he said. ‘On top of that, to not be there in the biggest moments, knowing your team’s counting on you, man, those are all extremely hard things to – it’s just a tough reality.’
That’s why Kelce is pressing pause and not rushing into a rash decision about his future after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss.
‘I think I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,’ Kelce said. ‘I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back, that it’s gonna be something that, it’s a wholehearted decision, I’m not half-assing it, and that I’m fully here for them.
‘I think I can play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human as a person to take on all that responsibility.’
