Tony Gonzalez Shares the One Question Travis Kelce Should Ask Himself Before Retiring

Gonzalez spoke to Sports Illustrated in an exclusive interview about Kelce’s NFL future.

Former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about Travis Kelce’s future in the NFL. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

“Can he still play?”

“Yes,” most NFL fans and analysts alike would likely say about Chiefs’ Travis Kelce in 2026.

But Tony Gonzalez, for one, thinks Kelce’s looming retirement decision requires a little more nuanced self-reflection. The Chiefs legend recently sat down with Sports Illustrated for an exclusive interview on behalf of Novartis and its latest cancer awareness campaign, “Relax, it’s a Blood Test.”

Gonzalez is a former first-round pick by the Chiefs who spent 12 years with the organization and, up until the last few years, held the franchise record in catches, receiving touchdowns and receiving yards. Once considered Kansas City’s GOAT tight end, the decorated Hall of Famer may be passing the crown down to Travis Kelce, who has since bested Gonzalez’s marks in all three categories and could still have more left in the tank following the Chiefs’ disappointing 6–11 season.

Back in December, Prime Video aired Gonzalez’s candid conversation with Kelce about the Chiefs star’s future in the league ahead of what could be his final game at Arrowhead Stadium. A month later, Gonzalez admittedly still isn’t sure whether Kelce is eying a 14th career season or if he’s finally ready to hang it up.

“After doing that interview and sitting down with him and spending some more time with him later in a relaxed atmosphere not in front of a camera—honestly, I really believe that he doesn’t know,” Gonzalez told SI. “Really based off of that interview, too. He really doesn’t know, and you’re talking about somebody who loves football.

“The way I look at it, he is somebody [who] if he does come back, it’s because he needs it at this point. There’s a difference between wanting to come back and needing to come back. Because for someone like him, he’s not chasing anything. He’s not chasing a Super Bowl ring like I was, he’s not chasing money, he’s not chasing fame.”

With Kelce’s retirement decision hanging over the Chiefs’ building this offseason, Gonzalez proposed one question the veteran tight end should be able to answer before making his choice.

“Football is not fun. It’s not a fun thing to do, to go out and play another football season, go out there and get hit in practices,” continued Gonzalez. “For him, it’s going to be something like he needs to come back, like it’s part of his DNA. Like, I’m just not ready, I can’t see my life without this game.

“So I think that’s probably the biggest question he needs to keep asking himself: ‘Is this something I want to do, or is it something I need to do?’”

At 36 years old, Kelce has achieved all there is in professional football: three Super Bowl rings, five AFC titles, four All-Pro honors and a litany of regular season and postseason records to his name. Much like his fiancée, his reputation precedes him. Through his own merits, character and infectious personality, and in part due to the limitless devotion of Swifties, he’s aged into one of the most beloved faces of the once-dominant Chiefs’ dynasty, one that now faces unforeseen challenges with a rehabbing superstar quarterback. Though glory defines much of Kelce’s 13-year career, heartbreak defines Kelce’s past two twilight seasons in Kansas City, as he lost badly to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX last February and then saw Patrick Mahomes tear his ACL toward the end of a woeful 2025 campaign.

Travis Kelce congratulates Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss in 2024. | Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

No one, not even Gonzalez, seems to know where Kelce’s next step will take him. But when it comes to life beyond the gridiron, Gonzalez is already pretty certain about what Kelce will do after his glittering Chiefs era comes to a close: Media.

“I don’t think there’s any assumption there. He’s doing it. … I mean, come on, he’s destined for that,” Gonzalez said of Kelce’s future in media. 

“The conversations I’ve had with him, we’re very similar in that vein,” said Gonzalez, who has worked as an analyst for CBS, Fox and most recently, Prime Video, following his NFL retirement in 2013. “Just ‘cause [of] his personality and his charisma and his experience, you saw him do Saturday Night Live, the world is his oyster. Whether he wants to be in a booth, to be on the desk, to act, he can podcast. The sky is the limit with options for him to go out there and pursue his dreams. So I think it’s going to come down to what he feels most comfortable with and what’s calling him. His brother [Jason] does a great job, and Travis is going to do a fantastic job, I have no doubt.”

As part of his interview, Gonzalez also discussed his partnership with Novartis, the official pharmaceutical partner of the NFL. Novartis’s upcoming campaign, which kicks off with a commercial that will air during Super Bowl LX, aims to normalize conversations around men’s health and PSA blood testing and encourage early screenings for prostate cancer.

Gonzalez spoke to SI about what Novartis’s new cancer awareness initiative means to him and why he’s excited to be a part of it.

“It’s something that’s personal to me because my grandfather and two of my uncles had prostate cancer,” Gonzalez said. “I’m excited to partner with Novartis to spread the word about early screening. It’s something that a lot of men have anxiety about and I get it. ... These conversations weren’t had in the locker room when we were playing. But as I’ve gotten older, these are conversations that are going on with all of my ex-teammates. Being at the Super Bowl, with a big campaign around it—Novartis is bringing that awareness because that’s what it is.”

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