Chiefs Have Known About Travis Kelce’s Retirement Decision for a While: Report

There’s a little over two weeks left on the deadline the Kansas City Chiefs reportedly gave tight end Travis Kelce to decide if he wants to retire.

The 35-year-old Pro Bowl has said on multiple occasions that he’s taking time to himself to weigh his options before deciding whether he wants to come back for his 13th NFL season.

But after the latest comments from Chiefs general manager Brett Veach at the NFL combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, many are convinced Kelce will, in fact, suit up again in 2025.

“How we left at the end of the season is that he was fired up,” Veach told reporters. “I think we left it as he'd be back and were excited to get him back and get him going.”

It sounds like Veach is convinced Kelce will be back with the team when it reports for training camp near the end of July, and that would seem to back up a new report from the Daily Mail that indicates the Chiefs have known about Kelce’s decision to come back since shortly after Super Bowl 59 ended.

“There was maybe a split second after the Chiefs got blown out that it might be it for Travis and he mulled over retiring, but he snapped out of it relatively quick, and the Chiefs have known all along his intentions to return for at least one more year was going to happen,” a source told the Daily Mail.

“They will all officially announce something before the NFL Draft, but Travis is looking forward to giving it one more year. There is a high likelihood that this will be his last year in the NFL and he will not sign a new contract, the only thing not confirmed is if he will mention that this would be his last year or not. But he is looking forward to playing.”

If Kelce does come back for one more season, there are a few more career milestones he could potentially achieve.

Kelce is just 986 yards shy of passing Jason Witten for the second-most career receiving yards by a tight end, and he’s just 13 touchdowns behind Jimmy Graham for fourth-most all-time by a TE.