Jason Kelce knows his way around an NFL retirement conversation — and his brother, Travis Kelce, might have his mind made up already.
During a recent chat with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson on “The Steam Room,” Jason, 37, reflected on getting his brother’s guidance before making his own decision about leaving the Philadelphia Eagles last year.
“[I talked to Travis] a lot,” Jason said on the podcast, which dropped Friday, February 21.
Jason added that he would “for sure” return the favor for Travis, 35, when he’s ready. “I’m sure we will talk about it, we’ve already talked about it a little bit,” Jason continued. “And I’m sure he’s going to go through a process of figuring that out.”
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As the speculation about his NFL future continues, Jason hinted that Travis “probably, in his heart, already knows what he wants to do.”
“We’re very similar people, but we also have different ways of thinking about things. And sometimes I can way overanalyze situations, and my brother has this way of being like, ‘Hey man, you want to play or you don’t want to play,’” he explained. “He’ll say something like that where it’s just like, ‘Don’t worry about all of these minor things.’ And nine times out of 10, he’s right about all of it.”
Travis has been a top-performing player since being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013. Throughout the 2024-2025 NFL season, however, the tight end struggled to make his usual impact.
“I used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success knowing I demand that out of myself. I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s tough for me to deal with me being mediocre or having stats that represent that,” he said on the Kelce brothers’ “New Heights” podcast in September 2024, admitting that he “stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago.”
Instead of focusing on the numbers, Travis said, “I just went out there and started to play free and play for my guys. Sure enough, I think that’s the better mentality. You think about it more play by play and what your job is on that specific play.”
By the end of the season, the Chiefs had the opportunity to make history with a third consecutive Super Bowl victory — but the result wasn’t what they hoped for. With Travis’ girlfriend Taylor Swift looking on, the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX 40-22 earlier this month in New Orleans.
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Travis told reporters after the game that the Chiefs “couldn’t get it going offensively,” congratulating the Eagles on their victory.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, meanwhile, was asked whether he thought Travis would hang up his helmet. “I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own,” he said in a post-game interview.
The Chiefs reportedly gave Travis until March 14 to make his choice. During the Super Bowl recap episode of “New Heights,” Jason encouraged his brother to take his time before settling on his final decision.
“I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back, it’s gonna be something that it’s a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-assing it,” Travis said on the podcast. “I’m fully here for them and I think I could play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human, as a person to take on all that responsibility.”
