Kelce, Mahomes Making Sacrifices to Focus on Super Bowl Window

About 52 days ago, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs didn’t know whether they had a future together. They certainly had a past.

That past included a brutal, 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, ending one of the worst seasons of Kelce’s future Hall of Fame career. But less than a week after the Super Bowl, Andy Reid knew his tight end was returning.

“I just wanted him to put it out there and not me,” Reid told beat writer Nate Taylor Monday at the annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. “I always like guys to step back (after the season), but he wants to come back and he’s training like crazy, too.”

He’s training like crazy, knowing he likely won’t have to carry the burden he shouldered in 2024, when the Chiefs lost Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown, and Isiah Pacheco – all significant Patrick Mahomes targets the year before. With those three healthy and returning, as well as JuJu Smith-Schuster and intriguing addition Elijah Mitchell, Kelce should get more quality opportunities.

It could be his last opportunity to win another Super Bowl. He admitted last month he was conflicted about returning to the NFL, considering that his earning potential off the field eclipses what the Chiefs are paying him to play his 13th NFL season.

“Why are you playing another season?" his brother Jason prompted early in the March 5 edition of the New Heights podcast. "Why are you going to go out there, risk injury, and make less money than you could make not playing football?”

“That was kind of the one I had to juggle right there," the tight end admitted.

Juggling isn’t something the Chiefs need from Kelce. They just need him to get open and let Mahomes do the rest. And according to Reid, Mahomes has committed to a similar offseason regimen, in addition to his business ventures. The quarterback has slimmed down and even revealed a shorter haircut at a recent Texas Tech basketball game.

“He’ll come back even better than he was — and that’s the great thing about him,” Reid told Taylor, noting that Mahomes had planned to cut his hair before the Super Bowl loss. “In your career, you’re always working your game against these brilliant defensive coordinators. The work is never done. He did last offseason, too, but he does a good job of keeping himself in great shape. You can see that after he runs the ball and he’s not completely gassed after the play. He’s played a lot of games and taken a few hits.”

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