Travis Kelce Shares Thoughts on Retirement in Recent Interview
The Kansas City Chiefs are in their golden era of football, and a large reason why has been the excellent play of tight end Travis Kelce. The future Hall of Fame-caliber player is coming off a record seventh straight 1,000-yard season and is showing few signs of slowing down on the field, recording career-highs in targets (152), catches (110) and touchdowns (12).
While Kelce is turning in season after season of elite production, it isn't going to last forever. In 2022-23 in particular, Kelce was open about how difficult it was to get — and keep — his body in top condition at times over the course of a long season. Now over a decade into his career, the eight-time Pro Bowler will turn 34 in October. Despite that, he isn't thinking about hanging his cleats up soon. In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Kelce said he didn't want to limit how long he can play at the highest level:
"I absolutely love what I'm doing, I love doing it here in Kansas City," Kelce said. "I don't even want to think about putting a time limit on this. My body still feels good, I still feel like I can help the Kansas City Chiefs win. On top of that, every single day is a blast coming into the building.
"I'm definitely having fun and haven't put much thought into it."
This is certainly good news for the Chiefs, a team that relies on the tight end position more than any other club in the NFL. Kelce is a de facto wide receiver No. 1, serving as a security blanket for quarterback Patrick Mahomes and stepping up in countless big-game situations. Oftentimes, Kansas City's offense will task Kelce with beating double teams and using his combination of size, athleticism and smarts to still get open. It's worked time and time again in recent years, but that process becomes increasingly strenuous with each passing season.
The Chiefs' current championship core on offense that features Mahomes, Kelce and head coach Andy Reid has a finite window in which it can all coexist. Mahomes will outlast the latter two, and some even speculated that Reid could have retired following the team's Super Bowl LVII victory in February. With Reid shooting that down and Kelce claiming that he hasn't put much thought into retirement, Kansas City can rest assured knowing that the pillars of the organization are mentally and physically refreshed as the offseason continues.
