Travis Kelce walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium with a smile Thursday night, seemingly in good spirits. While we still don’t know if that was it for him at the stadium in Kansas City, and the 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos wasn’t the best way to go out, Kelce still got plenty of love from Chiefs fans on his way out the door.
Kelce’s mom, Donna, and his fiancée, Taylor Swift, were in attendance, too. The walk back to the locker room this time felt different.
“You only get a few of those where you just get to stand there and appreciate 60-70,000 Chiefs fans screaming for you,” Kelce said in his postgame news conference. “I always embrace that moment, man. It’s fun. Hopefully I got everybody fired up for it.”
Kelce has spent his entire career with the Chiefs, who selected him in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati. He quickly became a fan favorite and played an integral part of the Chiefs’ dynastic run and their three Super Bowl wins. His public relationship with Swift has only skyrocketed his fame over the past several years.
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The 11-time Pro Bowler is closing in on 13,000 career receiving yards and has 82 touchdowns on 1,077 catches over his 13 seasons in the league. All three of those figures are the most in franchise history. He had five catches for 36 yards Thursday night.
But at 36, Kelce is undoubtedly nearing the end of his career. There has been plenty of speculation that he may retire at the end of the season, especially considering the Chiefs are going to miss the playoffs for the first time since Kelce’s second season in the league. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is recovering from an ACL and LCL injury he suffered earlier this month, making the start of next season unclear.
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If Kelce were to retire after this season, which would mark the end of an era for the franchise that has dominated the league in recent years, Thursday’s game would be his final one at home. He’s at the end of a two-year, $34.25 million deal with the team and would become a free agent in the coming months.
Kelce declined to give much clarity on the speculation postgame.
“Honestly, I’ve been just focused on trying to win football games, man,” Kelce said about retirement. “I’ll let that be a decision that I make with my family, friends, the Chiefs organization when the time comes.”
The Chiefs will take on the Las Vegas Raiders next weekend to wrap up their season. Based on Kelce’s comments Thursday night, we won’t have an answer on his future until after that.
But if this was the end, considering the circumstances, Kelce sure took advantage of his final moments at Arrowhead.