When Travis Kelce was featured in a long story from The Wall Street Journal earlier this season, his openness about his relationship with Taylor Swift garnered much of the attention. But one detail from the article, in particular, stood out for a totally different reason:
Kelce admitted that he constantly thinks about retirement.
Yet, nearly two months after the article was published, Kelce adamantly put an end to the speculation that this would be his final NFL season. Answering a question about Pete Carroll’s and Nick Saban’s recent retirements, Kelce explained that he still has a ton of football left in him.
He said:
“You guys think about retirement? Am I the only one in this boat? Is anybody else in this thing? Whoever is not thinking about stuff down the road … I have no reason to stop playing football. I love it. We still have success, coming in with the right mindset. I just love the challenge that it gives me every single day to try to be at my best. Like I said, I have no desire to stop anytime soon.”
In that WSJ story, Kelce opened up about how injuries have taken a toll on him, and he still feels them — and contemplates retirement. He said at the time:
And yet, you wonder how well his friends really know him, how well he lets anyone know him, because to a person they all say Trav lives in the moment, Trav never thinks about tomorrow, Trav never worries about retirement, despite recently turning 34, making him a Gollum in the NFL, whereas Kelce confesses that he thinks about it nonstop, “more than anyone could ever imagine.” In the same spirit, perhaps, he keeps his own counsel about his round-the-clock physical anguish. “That’s the only thing I’ve never really been open about,” he says, “the discomfort. The pain. The lingering injuries—the 10 surgeries I’ve had that I still feel every single surgery to this day.”
So while he does think about retirement, Kelce wanted to clarify that he has those thoughts for years down the road. Chiefs fans were also relieved to hear that the star tight end is still committed to playing football beyond 2024.
