We won\u2019t see the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL playoffs this year, with the franchise at an inflection point that could also mean that legendary tight end Travis Kelce finally hangs up his cleats and heads into retirement.<\/p>\n
Kelce has not specifically decided one way or another about his future, but his brother Jason kept the door open<\/a> during a recent segment on ESPN\u2019s\u00a0Monday Night Countdown. Meanwhile, Fox\u2019s Rob Gronkowski recently warned<\/a> Kelce not to make the decision too quickly.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Kelce is facing the possibility of a 2026 season in Kansas City minus Patrick Mahomes. And he and his representatives have made no secret of their plans for a big media career whenever Kelce is done playing.<\/p>\n These forces could combine to pull Kelce into his next chapter this offseason, and the market for his talents is already coming together.<\/p>\n In an episode of his\u00a0Marchand Sports Media podcast<\/a> released on \u201cBlack Monday\u201d following the end of the NFL regular season, The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand reported that Kelce is expected to be a top candidate for openings in the broadcast booth \u2014 and will command a hefty salary.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Travis Kelce is one who, if he retires, definitely could do TV,\u201d Marchand said of Kelce. \u201cI think he wants to do games, so that\u2019s one to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelce co-hosts New Heights, one of the top sports podcasts in the country, with his brother. He also has appeared in television and film cameos and hosted the\u00a0Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?\u00a0reboot for Prime Video.<\/p>\n Fans may not often hear Kelce break down the granular elements of a football game, but it sounds as if that\u2019s where his interests lie as he potentially entertains talks with broadcast networks.<\/p>\n And, according to Marchand, he will have very particular expectations of his next employer.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a guy who is only going to take a No. 1 job, to me,\u201d Marchand said of Kelce. \u201cHe\u2019s going to get anywhere from 10 to 20 million, because he\u2019s Travis Kelce.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the NFL, two longtime stalwart AFC North coaches could also join the media in John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin<\/a>. After a surprise return to the football field, Philip Rivers recently told Kay Adams he may entertain networks pursuing him as an announcer<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n Of course, many active NFL broadcasters also would want any top job that came open. Few can match Kelce\u2019s level of fame as a part of Kansas City\u2019s dynasty and fianc\u00e9 to musician Taylor Swift, but boast far more experience than him on-air. That list includes Greg Olsen, J.J. Watt, Drew Brees, Dan Orlovsky and Robert Griffin III, to name a few.<\/p>\n But a bid for Kelce would hardly be the first time a sports broadcast network went after a retiring star who cut the line. In recent years, Brees, CBS\u2019 Tony Romo and Fox\u2019s Tom Brady have done exactly this. Kelce\u2019s brother Jason also vaulted to MNC in his first year at ESPN. When smart, entertaining players retire, they often have their pick of opportunities.<\/p>\n Though NFL broadcasting is already incredibly loaded right now, Kelce\u2019s possible retirement could make the NFL media marketplace even busier this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We won\u2019t see the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL playoffs this year, with the franchise at an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,26299,6,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-657425","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-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascitychiefs","14":"tag-marchand-sports-media","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115845802554430292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657425","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=657425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}