SPORT: Travis Kelce makes call on NFL future
Travis Kelce has confirmed he will play on for at least another year.
In a low-key announcement the star Chief used the New Heights podcast X account, hosted by Kelce and his brother and former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jason Kelce, to confirm the news on Friday (AEDT).
“From the desk of @tkelce: ITS TIME FOR YEAR 13,” the post read.
The tweet came after earlier on Friday, ESPN host Pat McAfee broke the news on his show, “The Pat McAfee Show,” by reading a text from Kelce himself.
“I’m coming back, for sure,” Kelce told McAfee in a text that was read on the air.
“Gonna try and get to the best shape I’ve been this off-season and get back to the mountaintop.
“Got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game and how I got the guys ready for battle. I can’t go out like that!!!!”
Kelce will discuss his Chiefs return on the next New Heights podcast episode, due out next week.
Word of Kelce’s return comes weeks after the Chiefs’ hopes of a Super Bowl three-peat were thwarted by the Eagles in a lopsided 40-22 loss in New Orleans, the New York Post reports.
He had just four receptions for 39 yards in the championship contest.
“Just wasn’t our day,” Kelce said on a previous instalment of his “New Heights” podcast. “Couldn’t find a lick of momentum. I’m kicking myself for some of the tiny, tiny decisions I made on the field.”
Kelce, whose fame skyrocketed in recent years as his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift has intensified, also addressed the “wear and tear” on his body during the Chiefs’ latest postseason runs.
“The fact that we keep going to these AFC Championships and these Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games 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 spent 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 gruelling (and) it can weigh on you.”
A third-round pick in 2013 out of the University of Cincinnati — where he played with his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce — Kelce has spent his entire career with the Chiefs.
The 10-time Pro Bowler holds the single-season receiving yard record for a tight end with 1416, set in 2020, and the most consecutive 1,000-receiving-yard seasons for a tight end with seven.
Kelce, due to make an A$18 million roster bonus on March 14, is looking to bounce back after a quiet 2024 season when he posted career lows in receiving yards (823) and touchdown catches (three).
The three-time Super Bowl champ was supported throughout the season by Swift, whom he has been dating since 2023.
The 14-time Grammy winner was in attendance at most Chiefs home games this season, as well as Super Bowl 2025 at Caesars Superdome.
Page Six reported earlier this week the couple is back in the U.S. after enjoying a private romantic getaway.
“Taylor and Travis had a really nice time reconnecting after a very busy year,” a source told the outlet.
Swift wrapped her nearly two-year Eras Tour in December.
McAfee’s report on Friday follows recent comments made by Chiefs general manager Brett Veach, who hinted at Kelce’s return earlier this week.
“How we left it at the end of the season is that he was fired up,” Veach said at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
“He has one more year under contract. Still think he has that fire and desire to play. As far as I’m concerned, there is no deadline (for a decision). I think we left it as he’d be back. And we’re excited to get him back and get him going.”
