Travis Kelce Gives Timetable on Potential Chiefs Return Decision for 2026

The end is nigh for one of football's greatest tight ends.

Travis Kelce's plans for 2026 remain unknown. / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

With about a month and a half to go in the 2025 season, the Chiefs are in an unfamiliar position: fighting for their playoff lives. If the season ended today, Kansas City would miss the postseason for the first time since 2014.

That’d be no way to go out for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who has been the subject of retirement speculation for multiple years now. Kelce, 36, can become a free agent in March—and on Friday, he offered a timetable for when he might decide on his future.

“I want to give the Chiefs a good opportunity, whether I come back or not—or whether they want me back or not,: Kelce said via Nate Taylor of ESPN. “I’d like to make that decision before they’ve got to get draft picks and free agency opens to fill the roster appropriately.”

If he walked away after 2025, Kelce’s legacy as one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history would be secure. He has four All-Pro appearances and 10 Pro Bowl trips under his belt, and he is Kansas City’s all-time leader in receiving touchdowns, receiving yards and receptions.

However, he has work to do before potentially hanging up his cleats.

“All that will be at the end of the season. I won’t be thinking about it until then,” Kelce said.

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