Travis Kelce Fuels Retirement Questions after Saying ‘Seeing My Brother Go Through It’

Travis Kelce opened up about something that has clearly been weighing on him. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end said he has been thinking about what comes after football and a lot of that comes from watching his brother Jason Kelce retire earlier this year. During a Nov. 21 press conference he told reporters per People “Seeing my brother go through it and seeing… how the league works the season restarts in April and I want to give the Chiefs a good opportunity to know whether I come back or not.”

Kelce who is 36 and engaged to Taylor Swift said he plans to make his decision early enough for the team to handle their roster moves without guessing. He explained that he wants the Chiefs to have the clarity they need to prepare for next season even if he is not ready to think about retirement just yet. He said he plans to focus fully on the rest of the season before giving serious thought to what comes next.

As he put it “Whether they want me back or not it’s one of those things where I’d like to make that decision before they’ve got to get draft picks and free agency opens up. So all of that will be at the end of the season and I won’t be thinking about it until then.”

The Chiefs have had a tough year with a current 5 to 5 record but Kelce sounded steady and ready for the challenge. He said “Right now it’s a different season than we’ve had since I can remember. With that being said every single day is a new challenge and I love that.”

Even with the struggles Kelce continues to hit major milestones. In their Nov. 16 loss to the Denver Broncos he broke the Chiefs franchise record for touchdowns. Patrick Mahomes praised him afterward saying “He deserves it the work he puts in every day. He’s a leader man. It just speaks to the person that he is that he’s able to go out there and break that record. That was a great play in a big moment in the game. That’s when he usually makes his big plays.”