Travis Kelce isn’t sure if he wants to come back for the 2025 NFL season or not. If he does, things will be different for him in Kansas City. Kelce, 35, is coming off a loss in Super Bowl 59. The three-time Super Bowl-winning tight end had four catches for 39 yards in the 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the second Super Bowl loss of Kelce’s career. It doesn’t feel good.
“It just wasn’t our day. Couldn’t find a lick of momentum,” Kelce said in a “New Heights” podcast episode that was released on Wednesday. “I’m kicking myself for some of the tiny, tiny decisions I made on the field, trying to do something more than what I asked to do during plays. I wasn’t the best leader that I could be in motivating my guys and keeping my guys calm, cool and collected. I put a lot of that on myself as, you know, the guy that’s been in the building for 12 years and seen a lot of football and actually seen a situation just like this in the Super Bowl, talking about the Tampa Bay Super Bowl.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, man. Every time we felt like we made a big play or we got something going, a penalty would happen or we’d be going backwards. Then, on top of that, just not executing the play calls. It wasn’t the play calls. It was the cumulative effort of everybody just not finding a way to get it done, man. To happen on the biggest stage sucks, but to have it happen for the second time of my career on the biggest stage, man, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Kelce, a third round pick out of Cincinnati in the 2009 NFL Draft, is believed to be considering retirement. If he does decide to return to Kansas City, the Chiefs have one demand for him. The Chiefs have reportedly told Kelce that if he comes back, he will not be the No. 1 option in the passing game.
According to Nate Taylor of The Athletic, the Chiefs want Kelce to take a backseat to wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Kansas City also has Rashee Rice coming back from injury. Kelce would be the team’s No. 3 or No. 4 option in the passing game. It’s not crazy to think about, considering Kelce is going to be a 36-year-old tight end.
“I know everybody wants to know whether I am playing next year and right now I am just kicking everything down the road. I am kicking every can I can down the road,” Kelce said. “I am 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 there’s a lot that goes into this thing. I’ve been fortunate over the past five, six years, I’ve played more football than anybody.
“The fact that we keep going to these AFC Championships and Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league. That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body. It’s a lot of time in the building. That process can be grueling. It can weigh on you. It can make you better and it can drive you crazy. Right now, it was one of those things where it was driving me crazy this year. It happens as you tail off towards the back nine of your career.” Kelce can still be an impact player – he had 97 receptions for 823 yards and three touchdowns in 2024 – but he’s not the player he once was.
