What Travis Kelce’s expected return to Chiefs might look like

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will deliver his official decision on his NFL future at some point this offseason. For now, general manager Brett Veach gave the first clue as to whether Kelce will be back on the sideline in 2025.

“How we left it at the end of the season is that he was fired up,” Veach said at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. “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.”

It’s an optimistic outlook.

Given what Kelce showed on the field — and behind the scenes — this season, it’s not a sure thing we’ll see him in 2025. His agents couldn’t be reached for comment, likely because Kelce’s camp keeps information tight, given his relationship with pop music’s biggest superstar, Taylor Swift.

What became clear to the entire NFL in 2024 is that, at age 35, the 10-time Pro Bowl tight end is not the same guy.

“Definitely, time has taken its toll,” an AFC executive told me. “Doesn’t run really well anymore. [You] rarely just see him get open within the design of the play, but he has the special connection with the QB [Patrick Mahomes] to uncover when s— breaks down.”

The Chiefs knew this going into the season. There’s a reason they’ve drafted receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy in the top two rounds the past two years — and tight end Jared Wiley in the fourth round. There’s a reason they signed receiver Hollywood Brown in free agency and traded for wideout DeAndre Hopkins.

It had a lot to do with Kelce.

The Chiefs did what they could to minimize their reliance on their star tight end as the primary option in the offense. And assistant head coach Dave Toub told me during Super Bowl week that he admired the way Kelce handled the move away from being The Guy in the offense.

It was clear in training camp (during the sessions I saw) that the Chiefs were giving Kelce a reduced workload during practices. He wasn’t participating heavily — even when the top offensive unit was on the field. During Super Bowl week, Mahomes and coach Andy Reid endlessly praised Kelce for his practice habits. Maybe that’s because it’s hard for him to practice.

A source told me that, during the season, Kelce would playfully wonder, “Why am I doing this?” during his pre-practice warmup routine, which has turned into a grueling process unto itself. When an NFL player enters the league, he can basically step onto the field and be ready to practice. For Kelce now, it’s not like that. It takes time, effort and planning.

And even then, things go awry.

At one point this past season, he was simply jogging at practice and — out of nowhere — he pulled up limping in pain, because a simple footstrike sent shooting pain through his body. Kelce pulled himself off the field to do additional body work to get himself back into practice. All because he was jogging. The game is wearing away at his body — Kelce has admitted as much. The Chiefs, as a team, have played 16 extra games over the past five years — the result of all their postseason success. That’s essentially an entire season tacked onto the back of the tight end’s career.

“I’ve had more snaps than a lot of guys, if not everybody in the NFL, over the past five, six years. I’m very fortunate and very prideful of that,” Kelce said before the 2024 season. “But I know it has taken a toll on my body. It’s just making sure that my body is getting that rest and my ability to train harder and be able to withstand a 17- to 20-game season.”

Is it time for Travis Kelce to retire?

Kelce nailed it: He made it through another 20-game season.

And that was one of the first things that Mahomes mentioned after Super Bowl LIX when the QB was asked about Kelce mulling retirement. Mahomes openly wondered: Can Kelce commit to another 20-game season? That’s the expectation for the Chiefs at this point, that every year will bring a Super Bowl run.

“He knows he still has a lot of football left in him,” Mahomes said. “It’s if he wants to put in that grind. It’s a grind to go out there and play 20 games, or whatever it is, and go out and play in a Super Bowl. He’s done enough to be a Gold Jacket guy and a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

Kelce said during Super Bowl Opening Night that he wanted to be playing football in three years. But he also acknowledged how much he has waiting for him after the NFL. At the risk of making it sound transactional, he will continue to ascend as a celebrity for as long as he continues to date Swift. He’s long been a superstar in the NFL, but he grew into a pop-culture superstar when he started dating her. He has an acting career. He has endorsement deals. He doesn’t need football. That might make it easier to move on.

If he returns in 2025, the Chiefs will continue to reduce Kelce’s importance in the offense by emphasizing their receiving corps. That should mean limiting his workload.

“He’s accomplished everything that there is in this game,” Veach told NFL Network. “He has that unique ability not just to make those around him better but to find that extra something late in the season — or when we get into the postseason. … I think that Travis is excited to come back, and he finds a way to stay in shape and produce at a level only he can.”

Let’s hear from Kelce to know — for sure — about his return. But if he’s back, it’ll look different in 2025.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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