Travis Kelce Offers Insight Into Decision to Return to Chiefs, Not Retire

Travis Kelce explained why it wasn't a tough decision to return this season.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Following the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles this year, Travis Kelce briefly took time to consider retiring before ultimately deciding to come back for the 2025 season.

Shortly after Kelce announced his return, he shared on the New Heights podcast that the main reason he was coming back was his love of football.

"The biggest thing is that I f------ love playing the game of football," Kelce said in March. "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 think I let my guys down in a lot more moments than I helped them, especially if you look at my track record for how I did in years past. I want to give it a good run. I got a bad taste in my mouth on how I ended the year and how well I was playing and how accountable I was for the people around me."

During Chiefs mandatory minicamp this week, Kelce elaborated on his choice to come back, saying that the decision wasn't actually that tough for him.

"I love football, I don't think I really thought about it [retiring] that much," Kelce told reporters on Wednesday. "My friends and family and the team, guys and women in this building, I love coming in to work every singly day. It wasn't a very tough one for me. I know I'm getting older, but at the same time, I still feel like I've got a lot that I can prove in this league. With that being said, it really wasn't that hard of a decision for me."

Travis Kelce talks about his decision to return this season.#Chiefs l #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/KOIIPEFQgm

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Kelce added that he didn't feel the Super Bowl was his last game, but needed to let the emotions die down before coming to a decision.

"You want to let the emotions die down," Kelce continued. "That was the biggest thing was, you don't want to make decisions off the initial emotions. Once they died down, I still felt like I had that fire in my chest to be able to keep coming in and building and be better and chase another Super Bowl."

Heading into his 13th NFL season, Kelce's primary goal is to win his fourth Super Bowl. After losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in lopsided fashion last February, he is motivated to both play and lead better to try and win another Lombardi trophy.

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