The average NFL career last less than four years, so it’s quite an accomplishment when a player enters the league in his early 20s and lasts until his 30s. Thus, most players in their 30s are barraged with questions about when they’ll hang up the cleats.
Travis Kelce, 34, is used to those questions after entering the NFL in 2013. Those questions only got louder and more frequent when his brother, Jason, announced his retirement this offseason after a 13-year career. So, when asked about his future in his 12th year of minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs this season, Kelce sounded like he’s not ready to turn in his helmet and pads.
“I can’t put a time frame on it,”
Kelce responded when asked how many years he feels he has left. “I love coming to work every single day. I know that there’s opportunities outside of football for me, and I think you’ve got to keep in perspective that I’m still a little kid when I come into this building. I know I’m 34 years old, about to be 35, but I have a love to do this right here in the middle of the heat in June.
“I love coming to work every single day and doing this, so I am going to do it until the wheels fall off and hopefully that doesn’t happen anytime soon. I can definitely understand that it’s towards the end of the road than it is the beginning of it, so I’ve just got to make sure I’m set up for after football as well.”
While still playing, he’s preparing for a post-football future by starting activities that he could transition full-time into in retirement. He and his brother have a
highly successful podcast called
New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce that ranks in the top five sports podcasts on both Spotify and Apple and won the Shorty Award for Best Sports Podcast in both 2023 and 2024.
The success of New Heights played a role in Jason landing the coveted role on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown pregame show, and similar opportunities could await Travis once he’s done playing. But the latter is also experimenting with other forms of media such as the little screen. While he’s been featured in numerous commercials during his pro career – many also featuring quarterback Patrick Mahomes –
Kelce landed his first major acting role with the FX series
Grotesquerie.With the Chiefs perennially having short offseasons due to them advancing so far in the playoffs, Kelce said he uses this time to get away from the game for a while and try new things.
“I do take the offseason to get away and kind of recharge, but at the same time, I’m a football player,'‘ Kelce said. ”I love playing in the NFL and this will always be my main focus, but outside of that, football ends for everybody, so kind of dipping your toes in the water and seeing what you like in different areas in different career fields, I think the offseason is the best chance you can get.’’
Last year,
Kelce was the NFL’s third-oldest tight end, trailing only Marcedes Lewis (39) and Jimmy Graham (37). While Lewis, now 40, has re-signed with the Chicago Bears, Graham is undecided about returning in 2024 after playing last year with the New Orleans Saints. Kelce is the second-oldest player on the Chiefs, trailing only long snapper James Winchester, who is two months older.
A nine-time Pro Bowler, Kelce is coming off a down season by his standards. He suffered a knee injury prior to Week 1, forcing him to miss the opener, the first game he’s missed due to injury since his rookie year in 2013. The injury hampered him all season as Kelce finished with 984 yards, his fewest since 2015, and he averaged 10.6 yards per reception, the lowest average of his career.
History indicates that Kelce may not even reach that yardage this season, as
no tight end aged 35 or older has ever had more than 930 receiving yards in a year. Outside of former Chief and Atlanta Falcon, Tony Gonzalez, no tight end aged 35 or older has had more than 825 receiving yards in a season.
Kelce turns 35 on October 5, two days before the Chiefs host the New Orleans Saints in Week 5 on Monday Night Football. Conveniently, Kelce’s girlfriend
Taylor Swift has a break in her Eras Tour, which won’t resume until October 18 in Miami. Thus, Swift could very well both celebrate the birthday and attend the game versus the Saints, with big brother Jason also present as he’ll be working with the Monday Night Football crew.
