Travis Kelce Will Return to the Kansas City Chiefs Next Season

Travis Kelce will return to the Kansas City Chiefs for of the 2025-2026 NFL season, according to a text read on-air by ESPN’s Pat McAfee.

On the Thursday, February 26, episode of The Pat McAfee Show, a text from Kelce, 35, was read by McAfee, 37, after the former Indianapolis Colts punter reached out to inquire about his future in the league.

“My dawg!!! I’m coming back for sure,” the text from Kelce allegedly read. “I’m gonna try to get to the best shape I’ve been this offseason and get back to the mountaintop. Got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game and how I got the guys ready for battle.”

Kelce and the Chiefs were demolished 40-22 by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX on February 9.

The text continued, “I can’t go out like that!!!!”

Kelce was drafted by the Chiefs in 2013. Throughout his 12 seasons with the team, he has broken numerous records and won three Super Bowls in 2020, 2023 and 2024.

After the Chiefs’ devastating Super Bowl loss to the Eagles, Kelce fueled retirement rumors.

“I know everybody wants to know whether or not I’m playing next year and right now I’m just kicking everything down the road,” he said during the February 12 episode of his and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast. “I’m not making any crazy decisions but right now the biggest thing is just being there for my teammates and being there for my coaches, understanding that there’s a lot that goes into this thing.”

He continued, “You know, I’ve been fortunate over the past five, six years — I’ve played more football than anybody. And it’s because the people that are in that building and the fact that we keep going to these AFC Championships and these Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league. That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body and it’s a lot of time spent in the building focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand … and that process can be grueling. It can weigh on you.”

Travis noted that the extra time on the field “can make you better and it can drive you crazy at the same time,” confessing that “it was kind of driving me crazy this year.”

“I think that it happens as you kind of tail off toward the back nine of your career … as you see yourself or not feel yourself have the success that you once used to have, man, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” he said. “And then on top of that, to not be there in the biggest moments, knowing your team’s counting on you … it’s just a tough reality.”

Kelce — whose past several years have been a whirlwind due to his success with the Chiefs and his relationship with Taylor Swift — emphasized that he would not rush his decision.

“I think I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,” he shared. “I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back, it’s gonna be something that it’s a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-assing it. I’m fully here for them and I think I could play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human, as a person to take on all that responsibility.”