{"id":761787,"date":"2026-02-19T06:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761787\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:09:19","slug":"former-nfl-gm-advises-chiefs-to-replace-aging-star-travis-kelce-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761787\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL GM Advises Chiefs to Replace Aging Star Travis Kelce Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has now been over a month since Travis Kelce<\/a> played his last game for the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. For the first time since 2014, Kelce did not see any action in the NFL playoffs<\/a>. This is after the Chiefs ended the campaign with an 6-11 record, missing out on the postseason for the first time in over a decade.<\/p>\n

At this point, there is still no guarantee that Kelce will return next season. His contract with the Chiefs has expired and the 35-year-old is currently seriously contemplating retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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According to former Miami Dolphins<\/a> executive Mike Tannenbaum, however, it\u2019s the Chiefs who should make a move even before Kelce makes his retirement decision.<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) looks dejected after a game against the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have already indicated that they would love Kelce to return in 2026<\/a>. However, Tannenbaum is adamant that it\u2019s time to move on.<\/p>\n

Tannenbaum, who now serves as an NFL<\/a> analyst for ESPN, made his thoughts on Kelce very clear in a recent episode of \u201cSportsCenter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would move on from Travis Kelce,” Tannenbaum declared. “Let me tell you why. When you’re in the front office, you have to project what a player is going to do, not what they’ve done. I’ve made that mistake countless times in my career.<\/p>\n

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“Travis Kelce is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but when you watch him and make an honest and sober evaluation of his 2025 performance, clearly, his best days are behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelce played all 17 games for the Chiefs this past season. He registered 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns. Tannenbaum, the former executive vice president f football operations for the Dolphins, believes that the years have caught up to Kelce.<\/p>\n

Tannenbaum is adamant that instead of waiting for Kelce\u2019s decision, the Chiefs must act swiftly in replacing him with younger talent.<\/p>\n

“We talk about their lack of explosve plays,\u201d Tannenbaum said of the Chiefs. \u201cIf I was Kansas City, I would make the right, albeit difficult, decision to move on from Travis Kelce. Probably get younger, faster, more explosive at the tight end position.”<\/p>\n

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Tannenbaum has nothing against Kelce. In fact, the former NFL executive firmly believes that Kelce will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible.<\/p>\n

However, the ESPN analyst is also urging the Chiefs to make the hard choice and move on from Kelce as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Related: Travis Kelce’s Taylor Swift Message After Career Move<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Feb 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has now been over a month since Travis Kelce played his last game for the Kansas City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,262,251,23106,6,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-761787","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-los-angeles-chargers","15":"tag-miami-dolphins","16":"tag-mike-tannenbaum","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116095810429325821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761787","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=761787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}