Travis Kelce Michael Owens/Getty Images
Travis Kelce is giving fans more insight into his decision to play another season with the Kansas City Chiefs.
During the Wednesday, March 5, episode of “New Heights” — cohosted by his brother, Jason Kelce — Travis, 35, opened up about why he didn’t think it was the right time to retire.
“I think the biggest thing is that I f—ing love playing the game of football,” he explained. “I love playing, I still feel like I can play at a high level. And possibly at a higher level than I did last year, I don’t think it was my best outing. I let my guys down in a lot more moments than I helped them, especially if you look at my track record and how I’ve been in years past. I just, you know, I wanna give it a good run.”
Travis said he has “a bad taste in my mouth” after last season, adding, “I love so many people in Kansas City … it’s home for me now. I don’t wanna leave that life yet. I put in a lot of hard work and I put in a lot of focus into being the best that I can for KC and last year it didn’t end well for us.”
“I feel like there’s a responsibility in me to play out the contract that I initially signed, to give Kansas City and the Chiefs organization everything that I got, and that’s what I’m gonna do, man,” he said.
Jason, 37, joked that his own 2024 retirement swayed Travis in the other direction before asking for more details about his decision-making process.
“It’s similar to all the other decisions I make, it’s just off of feel. I’m not a big measure the pros and cons [person] and all that. I just go off of feel, pure gut feeling. And I f—ing love this game, man,” Travis said. “And not only that, I love going into the building with the guys that are there.”
Head coach Andy Reid played into the decision as well. “Coach Reid has been one of the biggest influences on my life, not just in the game of football. And I don’t wanna stop going to work with him, I don’t wanna stop learning from him. I don’t wanna stop being the reason why he has success or being part of the reason he has success,” Travis continued. “I want that guy to have the most success in the world because of who he’s been in my life, and that’s the same with Pat [Mahomes]. … I wanna keep living out those dreams.”
Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes David Eulitt/Getty Images
Speculation swirled about Travis’ NFL future last month after the Chiefs lost Super Bowl LIX to the Philadelphia Eagles. The defeat capped off an underwhelming season for Travis, who previously declared that he didn’t pay attention to commentary about his stats. During the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans, Travis only made four catches for 39 yards — his worst Super Bowl performance to date.
Travis spoke candidly about his mindset post-Super Bowl during a February episode of “New Heights,” revealing that he wasn’t ready to be “making any crazy decisions.” He said on Wednesday that losing the Super Bowl “was probably the biggest factor” in his choice to come back.
“I never once kinda second-guessed it, it was always in the back of my mind,” he explained. “Even when it got tough last year on the body or when it got tough after the Super Bowl, you know, you’re at your all-time low. There’s just something in a motivating factor that you can do this and you wanna do this. I pulled the trigger as soon as I had that feeling. … I can’t say whether or not this is going to be the last year because I still love a lot of what I do for the city of Kansas City and the Chiefs organization.”
The reverberations of Travis Kelce’s announcement that he’d be returning to the field next season were felt throughout Chiefs Kingdom. News broke that Kelce, 35, was kicking the retirement can down the road on the Thursday, February 27, episode of ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show, when McAfee, 37, read a text live on-air from the […]
The Chiefs reportedly gave Travis a deadline of March 14 to inform them of his plans for next season, and he made the call with time to spare. Pat McAfee revealed on the Thursday, February 26, episode of ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show that he received a text from Travis that read, “My dawg!!! I’m coming back for sure.”
The text continued: “I’m gonna try to get to the best shape I’ve been this offseason 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.”
Travis Kelce Al Bello/Getty Images
Travis’ decision was celebrated in an Instagram post shared by the Chiefs with the caption, “YEAR 13.” The official “New Heights” account wrote in the comments section, “LETS GOOOO.”
Before Travis’ return made headlines, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that he had the support of his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, regardless of his decision. Swift, 35, attended her first Chiefs game in September 2023 and has become a staple at Arrowhead Stadium as her romance with the tight end continues. She attended the 2024 Super Bowl, cheering on Travis and the Chiefs as they defeated the San Francisco 49ers. In February, Swift made her second Super Bowl appearance.
“Taylor and Travis work so well [together],” a second insider revealed last month. “They’re still madly in love, and their relationship just keeps getting better and better.”
