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By Megan Armstrong
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Our long national nightmare is over.
The saga of whether Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce would retire or return for at least one more NFL season ended on Monday. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that the Chiefs and Kelce, 36, had agreed upon a one-year, $12 million contract with a max value of $15 million.
For his first public comments about his decision, Kelce joined The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday. The three-time Super Bowl champion confirmed that world-famous pop star Taylor Swift, his fiancée since last summer, "without a doubt" influenced his decision to keep playing football.
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"We share the same love for what we do," Kelce said. "Fortunately, we've had this desire since we were kids in our selective professions. It's amazing to see her keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies and things like that, and on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does. Of course, that's motivating. That's motivating for anybody to see, let alone my fiancée."
Kelce added, "Knowing that I'm going through something where I'm trying to figure out exactly what the future holds for me, something like that definitely motivates me to say, 'You know what? I'm not done, either! I still got some ideas in the back of my mind and still got some juice left to play this game.'"
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Kelce also confirmed what many suspected when he commented on the Chiefs' decision to re-hire offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy in late January. On the Jan. 21 episode of New Heights, his podcast with his brother, Jason, Kelce said, "I can't wait to see him back in the building." Many took that as an indication that Kelce had already decided to play his 14th season with the Chiefs in 2026.
With McAfee, Kelce said, "The thing is, once I started dating Taylor, I started understanding what Easter eggs were. You start kind of just placing those things all over the planet, and everybody starts to catch on. That was a slip-up."
Kelce and Taylor hard-launched their relationship when Swift attended the Chiefs' Week 3 win over the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24, 2023. They announced their engagement last August.
The Chiefs selected Kelce in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Since then, Kelce has become the franchise's leader in career receiving yards (13,002), receptions (1,080), and touchdowns (82). Next season, the Chiefs will look to avenge their 6-11 record from last season and resume their dynastic ways to send Kelce off into the sunset.
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