The Kansas City Chiefs dropped their Christmas Day game against the Denver Broncos, 20-13, but talk after wasn’t about Xs and Os as much as it was about whether veteran star tight end Travis Kelce will suit up at Arrowhead Stadium again.
There have been rumblings that Kelce will retire. After the loss to the Broncos, Kelce was asked whether he ever stopped to consider that may have been his final home game with the Chiefs.
“No, the only time it ever crossed my mind is I was driving in the other day, and I saw how much the Powerball was. I was like, ‘Man, if I could just win that, I wouldn’t have to work another day in my life’” he said, eliciting laughs.
Kelce, 36, then turned a bit more serious.
“Honestly, I’ve just been focused on trying to win football games, man,” he said. “I’ll let that be a decision that I make with my family, friends, the Chiefs organization when the time comes.”
A third-round pick by Kansas City in the 2013 NFL Draft, Kelce is one of the best players in Chiefs history. A three-time Super Bowl champion, he’s a seven-time All-Pro who has been selected to the Pro Bowl every year since 2015 and led all players in fan votes this season.
Kelce has more receiving yards than any Kansas City player in history and the third-most by an NFL tight end. He also owns the Chiefs all-time record for most touchdown catches. His public profile has also soared in recent years, thanks to his relationship with fiancée Taylor Swift. (Swift attended the Dec. 25 matchup at Arrowhead Stadium to mark the last home game of Kelce’s 13th NFL season.)
The Chiefs have enjoyed unparalleled success during Kelce’s tenure, but the team, which currently sports a 6-10 record and has lost star quarterback Patrick Mahomes to injury, finds itself in an unfamiliar position this year: They’ve lost five straight game and won’t make the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season.
Prior to the Christmas Day tilt against the Broncos, Kelce, who leads the team in receiving yards this season, chatted with former Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez about his future and whether that would mark his final home game as a Chief.
“I think I’m still searching for those answers,” he said in an interview on Prime Video. “I think, obviously, the way this (season) ended with a sour taste in my mouth, I feel motivated, but I got to make the right decision for me. I got to hope that if I do want to come back, the Chiefs are willing to bring me back, so it’s a two-way street on that.
“But, at the same time, at this point in this year, I’m just trying to finish out and give Chiefs Kingdom everything I got and go out there and do it with some of that flare that you said I play with,” he added.
Kelce said his passion for football has not dissipated, either.
“I still have a lot of love for this game,” he said. “If I feel like if I came back, it’d just be to answer that flame in my heart that I still love this thing.”
Kelce and the Chiefs will finish out the season when they visit the Las Vegas Raiders on Jan. 4. The time for that game has yet to be announced.
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