{"id":22827,"date":"2025-02-27T19:40:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T19:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=22827"},"modified":"2025-02-27T19:40:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T19:40:52","slug":"travis-kelce-makes-nfl-retirement-decision-after-months-of-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=22827","title":{"rendered":"Travis Kelce Makes NFL Retirement Decision After Months of Speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ loss in the 2025 Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes said he was “not sure” if Kelce would return or retire<\/p>\n

Travis Kelce<\/a>\u00a0says he’s not done with football just yet.<\/p>\n

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After months of speculation about whether or not Kelce, 35, will retire from the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs star shared that he’s returning to professional football for another season.<\/p>\n

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On an episode of the\u00a0Pat McAfee Show<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on Thursday, Feb. 27, McAfee read a text message he received from the tight end.<\/p>\n

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According to the text message, Kelce said he’s “coming back for sure” next season with the Chiefs. “Gonna try and get to the best shape I’ve been this offseason and get back to the mountaintop,” Kelce continued, per McAfee.<\/p>\n

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The Chiefs star reportedly added, “Got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game and how I got the guys ready for battle. I can\u2019t go out like that!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs warms up prior to Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/span>Kara Durrette\/Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2025 Super Bowl on Feb. 9, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he was “not sure” if Kelce would return to the NFL for another season.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this month,\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0<\/em><\/a>reported that the\u00a0team needs his decision<\/a>\u00a0by March 14.\u00a0The tight end’s contract with the Chiefs runs through the 2025 season and includes an $11.5 million roster bonus that is due to him on March 15 if he stays with the team, the outlet noted.<\/p>\n

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Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Travis Kelce on Dec. 25, 2024 in Pittsburgh.<\/span>Mark Alberti\/Icon Sportswire via Getty<\/p>\n

Mahomes said he’s going to “let Travis make that decision on his own” after he deserves some well-deserved rest following a long season. “He’s given so much to this team and to the NFL,” Mahomes said of the superstar tight end. “And he’s been such a joy, not only for me to work with, but for people to watch.”<\/p>\n

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Jason Kelce, who retired in March 2024,\u00a0spoke about his<\/a>\u00a0brother’s difficult decision during a Feb. 21 episode of\u00a0The Steam Room<\/em><\/a>, saying, \u201cI think Travis, I think he probably, in his heart, already knows what he wants to do. That\u2019s the reality of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ loss in the 2025 Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes said he was “not sure” if Kelce would return or retire Travis Kelce\u00a0says he’s not … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22829,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22827\/revisions\/22829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}