Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has already secured his legacy as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to walk away from his NFL career.
“I know I’m 34 years old, about to be 35, but I have a love to do this right here in the middle of the heat in June,” Kelce said ahead of the Chiefs’ minicamp session in June 2024. “I love coming to work every single day and doing this.”
According to a study by RBC Wealth Management, the average retirement age for an NFL player is 27.6 years old, but Kelce added that he plans to keep playing football “until the wheels fall off.”
Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, who is two years his senior, set an example of a graceful exit when he retired from the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the 2023 season. During a June 2024 episode of their “New Heights” podcast, Jason gave his brother some retirement wisdom.
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“This is when you’re going to start knowing, whenever this time comes, and you need to walk away,” Jason said. “[It’s] the fighting your body, like, you used to be able to do something you can’t do anymore. That’s when it’s like you’re fighting that, to continue to get that back. That’s when it starts to become hard. Bottom line is everyone knows when it’s time for them.”
Unlike Jason, Travis doesn’t have kids to factor into his retirement timeline — Jason shares daughters Wyatt, Ellie, Bennett and Finn with wife Kylie Kelce — but he is in a committed relationship with Taylor Swift. Travis and Swift announced their engagement in August 2025, and the couple’s romance is going as strong as their respective careers.
“I love it when Taylor comes and supports me and enjoys the game with the fam and friends,” Travis said during a January 2024 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
Keep scrolling to see everything Kelce has said about his NFL retirement plans, or lack thereof:
April 2023
Travis said he “hadn’t put much thought into” retiring during an interview with Bleacher Report.
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“I absolutely love what I’m doing, I love doing it here in Kansas City,” he said. “I don’t even want to think about putting a time limit on this. My body still feels good, I still feel like I can help the Kansas City Chiefs win. On top of that, every single day is a blast coming into the building.”
June 2023
At the Chiefs minicamp, Travis reiterated his desire to keep playing football.
“I love this game,” he continued. “I know I’m going to miss it when I’m done playing. … I get to play a game for a living at the age of 33, 34 and I think that’s something – you know, I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose that excitement that I had for a game when I was a kid.”
November 2023
The athlete admitted that injuries prompted him to think about retirement “more than anyone could ever imagine” during an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“That’s the only thing I’ve never really been open about,” he said. “The discomfort. The pain. The lingering injuries — the 10 surgeries I’ve had that I still feel every single surgery to this day.”
January 2024
“I have no reason to stop playing football,” Travis told reporters at a press conference. He noted that opportunities like his March 2023 Saturday Night Live hosting gig had given him a glimpse of his future prospects, but he still wasn’t ready to walk away from his first love.
“I’ve been fortunate to do a few things outside of the sports world that I’ve been enjoying doing, like getting on camera,” he explained. “The SNL stuff kind of opened up a new happiness and a new career path for me, but it’s funny for me to even say that at this point in my career because I think it’s so much further down the road than it is right now.”
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June 2024
During a press conference, Travis said that he wasn’t planning on retiring “anytime soon” and said he “really can’t put a timeframe” on his NFL exit.
“I’m going to do it until the wheels fall off,” he said. “I can definitely understand that it’s toward the end of the road [more] than the beginning of it. I just gotta make sure I’m set up for after football as well.”
Travis added that he still gets a lot of joy from his NFL career.
“I love coming to work every single day,” he said. “Obviously, I know there’s opportunities outside of football for me. I think you’ve gotta keep in perspective that I’m a little kid when I come in this building.”
January 2025
During an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show, Travis denied that he’s ready to retire at Swift’s insistence.
“She’s fully encouraging me to enjoy playing this game,” Travis said. “She loves coming to Arrowhead [Stadium] and coming to the games and cheering for me, so I got all the support in the world to keep chasing these dreams.”
February 2025
During Super Bowl LIX Opening Night on February 3, Travis was asked where he expects to be in 3 years.
“Hopefully still playing football,” he told reporters. “I love doing this. I love coming into work every day. I feel like I still got a lot of good football left in me.”
Travis added, “We’ll see what happens. I know I’ve been setting myself up for other opportunities in my life. That’s always been the goal, knowing that football only lasts for so long.”
Following the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, a somber Travis said, “We haven’t played that bad all season.”
He didn’t address his playing future during his brief comments to reporters.
When Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked if he thought Travis would return for another season, he said, “I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own. He’s given so much to this team and to the NFL, and been such a joy not only for me to work with but [for] people to watch.”
October 2025
Travis discussed his potential retirement during an interview on ESPN’S Monday Night Countdown with his brother, Jason.
“Man, I’ll be fortunate to keep having fun with these guys year in year out, man,” Travis said, adding, “I take it day by day, year by year. I just love coming into work with these guys.”
November 2025
Travis shared a new update on where his head was at when it comes to his potential retirement plans, telling reporters in November that he would give the Kansas City Chiefs plenty of notice when the time came.
“You know, seeing my brother go through it and seeing…just how the league works, the season kind of restarts in April, and I want to give the Chiefs a good opportunity to know whether I come back or not,” he said. “And vice versa. Like, whether they want me back or not, it’s one of those things where I’d like to make that decision before they’ve got to get draft picks and free agency opens up.”
He added, “I’d like to make that decision before they’ve got to get draft picks and free agency opens to fill the roster appropriately… All that will be at the end of the season. I won’t be thinking about it until then.
December 2025
After the Chiefs were knocked out of playoff contention for the 2025-2026 season — and quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL — questions of whether Travis would walk away from the sport ahead of next season swirled.
His brother, Jason, however, hinted that Travis hadn’t made his decision and there was still plenty of season left to play before deciding.
“I’m curious, too,” Jason told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt during ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown broadcast on December 15. “In my opinion, to nail that decision, you have to step away from the game for a little bit. Play these last three games, enjoy them with your teammates, enjoy them with your coaches. The team’s going to be different no matter whether you come back or not next year.”
He prompted his brother to “enjoy these last three games and then let it sink in. It will come to you with time.” Jason, who is a retired NFL center, explained, “There are so many emotions with this game right after a season, especially with the way this one’s been.”
Jason noted that the Chiefs’ 6-8 record makes the retirement conversation even more complicated. “They’ve been close, and right now it’s just too fresh,” he said. “You gotta step away from it, you gotta think about it, and then, yeah, it will come to you.”
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Two days later, Travis commented on his rocky season, revealing that playing the game no matter what the outcome was an “honor” for him.
“We got three games left … the integrity of who you are as a professional, as a player, you gotta love this s***, man. And Chiefs Kingdom, we’re gonna give you everything we got. There’s no question about that,” Travis said on the December 17 episode of the brothers’ “New Heights” podcast. “There’s only one way I do things, there’s only one way Coach Reid does things, and if we’re gonna go out there and play some football, we’re gonna do it the right way and keep trying to get these things fixed and end on the highest note we can.”
During a December 19 press conference, Travis hinted that his career could in fact be coming to an end. After a reporter asked if he thought he had already “played with Patrick [Mahomes] for the last time,” he let out a laugh, calling that a “crazy” thought.
“I think I’d rather just keep the focus of the media and everything on this team right now,” Travis responded. “All the conversations that I have with the team and everything moving forward will be with them.”
He noted it’s a “unique time” in his life, adding, “Unfortunately, I got three games left and I know when the season ends this year.”
Travis, who has made it to the playoffs the majority of his career, explained, “Typically, we go into and we don’t know when it’s going to end. That’s the beauty of it. Just trying to make sure everybody here knows I’m focused on trying to win football games these last three games.”
Ahead of the Chiefs’ December 25 game, Travis sat down with retired NFL star Tony Gonzalez, who asked whether a retirement decision has been made.
“I think I’m still searching for those answers,” he said in a pregame interview. “The way this ended with a sour taste in my mouth, I feel I need to make the right decision for me.”
According to Travis, he’ll know the right time to hand up his cleats once he realizes “when it’s over it’s over.”
“I feel like I have a lot of love for this game,” Travis said. “If I came back it’d just be to answer that flame that I still love this thing. If it was just Sundays, I could play till I was 50. Obviously, there’s so much that goes into it. Arrowhead being Arrowhead, the atmosphere [and] playing in front of them, those will be memories that I cherish [when] I’m old and gray. … It’s special, man, and I love playing for them.”
