Travis Kelce Addresses Whether He’ll Return to the Kansas City Chiefs After Super Bowl Loss

Travis Kelce is still reeling from his Super Bowl loss.

Which is why—despite many NFL fans wondering if this season will be the 35-year-old’s last—the Kansas City Chiefs tight end isn’t making any hasty decisions.

“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,” he said to brother Jason Kelce on the Feb. 12 episode of their New Heights podcast. “I'm kicking every can I can down the road, and I'm not making any crazy decisions.”

Travis—who has played his entire professional career with the Chiefs—continued, “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. I’ve been fortunate over the past five, six years—I’ve played more football than anybody. And it’s because the people that are in that building.”

This is not to say, however, that the sport doesn’t take its toll.

“The fact that we keep going to those AFC Championships, to Super Bowls,” Travis added, “that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league. And that’s a lot of wear and tear on your body. And that’s a lot of time spent in the building, focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand and every challenge that you set up for yourself. And that process can be grueling.”

He further explained, “It can make you better or it can drive you crazy. And right now it’s one of those things where it was kind of driving me crazy this year. And I think it happens when you start to tail off towards the back nine of your career.”

The athlete—whose relationship with Taylor Swift thrust him further into the limelight this past year—also shared the “tough reality” of realizing one’s success might look different than it used to, calling it a “tough pill to swallow.”

“So I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,” Travis concluded. “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, that I’m not half-assing it. That I’m fully here with them, and I think I could 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.”

And, no matter what decision he makes, he knows he’ll have the support of the Chiefs team.

As teammate and Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes told reporters after the Super Bowl, “I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own, man. He’s given so much to this team and to the NFL and been such a joy, not only for me to work with but for people to watch."

“I know he still has love for the game,” Patrick continued. “And he'll get to spend some time with his family and make that decision on his own, but he knows he'll come back here with welcome arms. We love that guy not only for the football player, but the person that he is every single day.”

For more from Super Bowl LIX, which saw the Philadelphia Eagles beat out the Kansas City team, keep reading.

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