{"id":655260,"date":"2026-01-05T06:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T06:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655260\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T06:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T06:47:16","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-dt-chris-jones-makes-retirement-prediction-for-te-travis-kelce-after-2025-nfl-season-comes-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655260\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones makes retirement prediction for TE Travis Kelce after 2025 NFL season comes to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> DT Chris Jones called his shot on TE Travis Kelce’s future after the Week 18 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, and he might have a little insider knowledge.<\/p>\n

Kelce finished Week 18’s game with three receptions for 12 yards, becoming the 23rd pass-catcher and third tight end in NFL history with 13,000 or more career receiving yards. The talk of the town after the game, however, wasn’t about the accolade to go along with all of the others in his 13-year NFL career. All of the hubbub, as it has been for a good chunk of the 2025 NFL season, was about whether Kelce would soon decide to retire<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Had he played in his last NFL game<\/a>, going out with a fizzle after a disappointing 6-11 campaign? At least one of his teammates remains optimistic that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Kelce playing in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Chiefs DT Chris Jones believes that Travis Kelce will forgo retirement and return to the team in 2026<\/p>\n

Asked what he’d remember most about Travis Kelce if Week 18 turned out to be his last game, Jones made a prediction. <\/p>\n

“I don’t buy that,” Jones told reporters. “He’ll be back next year.” <\/p>\n

FOX 4 Kansas City’s Rob Collins quickly responded: “Do you promise?”<\/p>\n

“I can’t promise you anything about another man, but I just don’t know,” Jones said. “I don’t know. This year was a tricky year for us. I’ve got faith my dog is coming back.”<\/p>\n

Jones is one of the longest-tenured players next to Kelce, arriving in the 2016 NFL Draft<\/a>. The two have shared a special bond during their time together on the team, one characterized by the fact that they don’t take things too seriously. Asked about the type of teammate that Kelce is, No. 95 emphasized that fact in his response.<\/p>\n

“It’s just when you’re a granddaddy of a team, and you’ve been here for decades, and came in such a handsome guy, now you’ve got gray hairs,” Jones joked. “I’m just playing with y’all. Travis (Kelce), man. He brings a lot of energy, a lot of passion to the game, one of the best tight ends to ever play the game, if not the best tight end to ever play the game. And I have so much respect and love for him. And he has the best cookies; I got to give it to him.”<\/p>\n

Of course, an NFL lineman is always thinking with his stomach. Asked about his first impression of Kelce when he first arrived in Kansas City as a rookie in 2016, Jones learned a lot from how No. 87 went about his business.<\/p>\n

“He was just catching everything,” Jones said of his first impressions of Kelce. “He was dancing to everything. Dancing and catching everything. So I was like, ‘You know what? Imma start dancing.’ So, it’s always been a fun, energetic individual who brings a ton of energy (and) gives the group fire to keep going. So, I just pray this isn’t my dog’s last time.”<\/p>\n

The main reason Jones is so hopeful that Kelce will return for one last ride is that they’ve got unfinished business. Not just from the loss in Super Bowl LX, but regarding everything they went through as teammates during the 2025 NFL season. <\/p>\n

“Travis is just my hero,” Jones said. “Inside joke. He understands, but he’s my dog. Hopefully, this isn’t his last year. We have so much more growth to do this year and so much work to do, and I’m looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Related: Updated list of Kansas City Chiefs’ 2026 NFL Draft picks following conclusion of 2025 NFL regular season<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by A to Z Sports<\/a> on Jan 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones called his shot on TE Travis Kelce’s future after the Week 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,2025,7,118,110,2438,2437,393,6,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-655260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-chris-jones","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kansas-city","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","13":"tag-kansascity","14":"tag-kansascitychiefs","15":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115841155281983624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}