Travis Kelce Hints at Potential NFL Retirement: Right here’s What He Mentioned!
Might Travis Kelce be saying so lengthy to the NFL?
After 12 seasons because the tight finish for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, the Ohio native hinted he could be taking a look at retirement sooner quite than later whereas reflecting on his workforce’s win over the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 15.
“It felt so surreal,” Travis confessed about returning house on the Dec. 18 episode of his New Heights podcast. “I do not know if it is the final time I will play in Cleveland, however it kinda felt like I used to be simply giving it one final hoorah earlier than I am carried out as a result of I’ve solely performed there twice in 12 years.”
And because the 35-year-old has performed there so sometimes, he would not “actually see it ever taking place once more.”
He added, “It was only a big day for me personally.”
“I simply love that metropolis, man. It was so enjoyable,” Travis gushed to his brother and cohost Jason Kelce, who retired from the NFL earlier this 12 months. “After we flew in, I felt like a tour information, simply telling all people each single metropolis that we have been going previous, each monument, each constructing.”
And the Tremendous Bowl champ—who has been relationship Taylor Swift since final 12 months—was notably moved that so many vital individuals from his childhood could possibly be there to look at him play.
“All of the those who we knew that helped mildew me and have the values that I’ve at this time,” he mentioned. “A number of them have been on the sport.”
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Earlier this 12 months, Travis obtained candid about potential retirement, and whereas it is positively one thing he is desirous about, he wasn’t able to formally cling up his jersey simply but.
“I am nonetheless having fun with coming to work. I am not dreadin’ practices,” he mentioned on the Rich Eisen Show in September. “I am simply having a lot enjoyable and simply so appreciative and so lucky that I have been capable of come into 12 months 12 and nonetheless have this vitality and this love and the flexibility to go on the market and get to work.”
And being a part of the Chiefs for the 2024 season was particularly thrilling, as he and his workforce are hoping for his or her third Tremendous Bowl win in a row.
“I feel the thrill of the problem of this 12 months, having the ability to perhaps do it a 3rd time in a row,” he added. “I feel that alone was all I wanted to return again.”
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Nonetheless, that does not imply he hasn’t given some thought to his post-NFL profession—which incorporates taking a web page out of brother Jason’s own retirement playbook.
“I need to broadcast after I’m carried out enjoying,” Travis defined on New Heights in June, before putting on a transatlantic accent to make his brother snicker. “I wanna be proper right here and inform them in regards to the sport, the outdated ball coach, girls and gents.”
Travis continued, “I need to be the speaking head that calls the video games.”
Whereas it stays to be seen precisely what his future holds, maintain studying for a deep dive into all issues Travis.
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1. Travis Kelce could also be inextricably linked to Kansas Metropolis, Mo., for all times, however he grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
And the person represents, shouting out his hometown as an alternative of his alma mater, College of Cincinnati, throughout sport broadcasts that embrace participant introductions.
Which, as you would possibly guess, has irked some fellow alums.
“It’s not as a result of I don’t admire the time I had on the College of Cincinnati, as a result of I do, I cherish it dearly,” Travis mentioned in 2019 when he and large brother Jason Kelce have been inducted into the Cleveland Heights Excessive College Corridor of Fame. “However there was a time after I was at Cincinnati that it wasn’t simple for me. It was robust. I obtained my scholarship taken from me. I did a variety of dumb issues. I am positive lots of people on this room know somebody from Heights that is carried out a variety of dumb issues. To all my mates, I used to be that man.”
And the Heights weren’t simply particular to him, he continued, however “to each single particular person up right here. How numerous this place is. It builds one thing in me. Each single factor I do is for this metropolis. It sounds cliche, however I promise you, each single factor I do on the market — once you see me dancing ultimately zone, that’s Cleveland Heights, for you, proper there.”
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2. About that revoked scholarship…
After the Bearcats’ undefeated 2009 season that included a Huge East title, Travis failed a marijuana take a look at forward of the 2010 Sugar Bowl after partying too exhausting on New 12 months’s Eve in New Orleans.
Not solely did he miss the bowl sport, the NCAA suspended him for the 2010 season and he misplaced his scholarship. Discovering himself with out room and board, he moved in with Jason (actually into his brother’s room in the home he shared with some teammates) and took a job as a telemarketer that entailed him asking anybody who picked up if they’d ideas in regards to the Inexpensive Care Act.
They did, and Travis couldn’t wait to get again on the sphere.
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3. Travis performed hockey, baseball and basketball earlier than moving into soccer, and he was a quarterback in highschool. In truth, he was a two-star QB recruit for Cincinnati, and solely ended up switching to tight finish as a situation of his reinstatement to the workforce after his suspension.
“We had an superior quarterback on the time in Zach Collaros and we wanted some assist in the run sport in addition to the passing sport,” Travis instructed Arrowhead Pride after he was drafted by the Chiefs in 2013, “so I talked to educate Butch Jones, who was my coach on the time, and he mentioned we want a good finish and my skill-set, athleticism and my path all transferred over and it labored out good for me.”
Or, as he put it to GQ in 2017 whereas rehashing his un-shining second, “All people my complete life had been telling me I used to be a good finish anyway.”
Instagram (@donnakelce)
4. The home at 127 W. Nixon St. the place Travis bunked with Jason and a few fellow Bearcats was the scene of a variety of beer-infused shenanigans.
The brothers “used to like enjoying Nintendo 64 for hours, smashing the controls and chugging beers on the similar time,” faculty pal and teammate Tom DeTemple instructed the New York Times earlier than the 2024 Tremendous Bowl. “They’d simply provide you with these random consuming video games whereas enjoying, they usually have been extremely good at it.”
5. And suffice it to say, Travis is extraordinarily happy with being a Bearcat.
“It is all about Cincinnati, child,” he instructed reporters earlier than the 2023 Tremendous Bowl, which the Chiefs obtained to by beating the Bengals within the AFC Championship Sport. “I’ve all the time been extraordinarily prideful of coming from the College of Cincinnati. I lastly obtained my diploma. I attempt to assist out as a lot as I can. I’m going again to the college after I can. I simply miss being round all these gamers that I performed with, and all of the individuals I met alongside the best way there which have all the time been in my nook all through the ups and downs of life.”
And when he was down within the eyes of the NCAA, he continued, “The gamers, the coaches, the workers that was on the college on the time—actually believed in me to have the ability to flip issues round and do higher for myself. That was enormous for me on the time.”
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6. Virtually a decade after leaving faculty to enter the draft, Travis earned his diploma in interdisciplinary research in 2022—however did not choose up his diploma till April 2024 throughout a surprise commencement ceremony after he and Jason taped a stay episode of New Heights at Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Area.
The graduate was already holding a can of beer as he approached the dean for his congratulatory handshake, after which he promptly chugged it.
And Travis was going to graduate in 2022 however he missed his flight.
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7. Largely as a result of his off-the-field subject, Travis ended up solely the fifth tight finish picked within the 2013 NFL Draft, going first within the third spherical to the Chiefs. After which coach Andy Reid, who’d beforehand coached Jason in Philadelphia, requested the elder Kelce sibling to vouch for Travis.
Andy and Travis have three Tremendous Bowl rings to point out for Jason’s endorsement.
8. His hype music could have modified since, however for years Travis listened to Randy Newman‘s “Burn On” earlier than each sport.
“I am an east facet of Cleveland child so rising up, I do not know why, however this music brings me again to desirous about household and desirous about the place I’m in life and the way a lot I admire it,” he mentioned on the NBC Sports activities podcast PFT Stay in 2017.
Allow us to clarify: It is within the opening credit of Main League, the last word Cleveland sports activities film.
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9. Everybody, together with Travis, is mispronouncing his final title.
Whereas he and Jason have simply gone with Kelce sounding like “Kel-see,” it really rhymes with “else.”
Travis’ teammate Chris Jones fired off that bombshell on Contained in the NFL in January—”F–king loopy, proper?”—and the brothers confirmed as a lot after they confronted their dad Ed Kelce about it on their New Heights podcast.
“Why on this planet did you modify your title out of nowhere and now we’re Kel-see?” Jason requested. “Why did we expect that our title was Kel-see for the primary 24 years… 27 years of my life, 25 of Trav’s?”
Ed admitted he “obtained bored with correcting individuals” however urged his son to “do no matter you need.”
John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
10. The No. 87 Travis has worn all through his time within the NFL is a tribute to Jason, who was born in 1987.
“If there’s a Kelce legacy, two brothers making it to the NFL, it began in 1987, as a result of this huge man was born in 1987,” Travis defined to NFL Movies forward of the 2023 Super Bowl that includes his Chiefs squaring off against Jason’s Philadelphia Eagles.
11. Travis’ basis 87 and Operating has been a longtime benefactor of Operation Breakthrough, a nonprofit studying middle in Kansas Metropolis that the athlete has labored with since his first go to in 2015 to learn The Cat within the Hat to the children.
Sure, reader, he wore the hat.
Since then, Travis has invested in this system’s Good Lab and purchased the previous muffler store subsequent door so they may develop and create their Ignition Lab, the place the younger students transformed outdated vehicles that might’ve ended up on the scrap heap into working electrical automobiles.
David Calvert/Getty Pictures for American Century Investments
12. Travis and Jason name their New Heights listeners “92 percenters” in reference to Jason as soon as commenting {that a} play referred to as a quarterback sneak labored “92 p.c of the time” when all you want is one yard to attain a landing.
Followers have been apparently fairly tickled and mainly christened themselves the “92 percenters,” in response to the podcast’s website, which likened it to “their secret handshake, however in phrases.”
Who have been the Kelce brothers to argue with that?
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13. Travis has three private trainers—Alex Skacel, Andrew Spruill and Laurence Justin Ng—and, in response to The Athletic, one often travels with him wherever he goes to make sure he stays in football-catching form all 12 months spherical.
Alex, who’s additionally a bodily therapist, recalled Travis eager to go for a late evening run after taking in a slate stuffed with exhibits throughout Paris Vogue Week as a result of he missed figuring out that day.
“It is midnight, and we’re doing sprints over the bridges over the river,” the coach instructed the New York Times in April. “Regardless of the place he’s, he finds time to get carried out no matter he must get carried out.”
14. Travis’ private chef, Kumar Ferguson, has been a pal because the fourth grade in Cleveland Heights.
He was an newbie prepare dinner working as a truck driver in 2016 when Travis referred to as him up and supplied him the chance.
“He is like, ‘Hey man, I need to take my eating regimen critically, and take it to the following degree,’” Kumar instructed Vanity Fair in 2023. “I am like, s–t, let’s do it. Three or 4 days later, I used to be in Kansas Metropolis.”
He is been accountable for every part from stocking Travis’ fridge to delivering well-balanced lunches to the Chiefs’ coaching facility.
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15. Travis’ facial hair is below the microscope greater than ever now, so he defined on New Heights that he shaved his low season beard and stored the ‘stache in 2023 as an homage to the walrus look favored by Andy Reid and determined to repeat in 2024.
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16. The $34.25 million two-year contract Travis signed in April 2024 made him the highest-paid tight finish within the NFL for the primary time in his profession.
Which lastly put an finish to years of chatter about how a lot cash he wasn’t making.
“My managers and brokers love to inform me how underpaid I’m,” Travis quipped to Vainness Honest in 2023. “Any time I discuss wanting more cash, they’re identical to, ‘Why do not you go to the Chiefs and ask them?’”
However by then, with many different sources of revenue having opened up for him, he cared extra in regards to the vibes than the paycheck.
“I am like, the free market seems to be like enjoyable till you go someplace and also you don’t win,” he defined. “I really like profitable. I really like the scenario I am in.”
Seeing different gamers’ enormous paydays “hits you within the intestine a little bit bit,” he admitted. “It makes you suppose you’re being taken benefit of. I do not know if I actually pressed the gasoline if I’d get what I’m quote-unquote value. However I do know I get pleasure from coming to that constructing each single day.”
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17. Travis has been into garments since rising up in Cleveland Heights, the place his highschool “was like a vogue present every single day,” he instructed Vanity Fair in 2023.
Therefore the bed room he transformed right into a closet, the higher to deal with his designer threads and greater than 300 pairs of sneakers—together with a pair of size-13 Nike Air Mags that he spent a large portion of his rookie 12 months wage on regardless of them being a measurement too small.
“Earlier on in my profession, after they did not have all these sneaker apps,” he defined to the Wall Avenue Journal, “it was no matter measurement I might get within the shoe that I wished.”
Whereas he is very a lot a Nike man (and never simply because the model sponsors him), Chuck Taylors additionally maintain an area in his coronary heart as a result of they remind him of fictional baseball phenom Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez in The Sandlot.
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18. Amongst his dozens of investments, Travis co-owns Ohio-brewed Storage Beer with Jason.
“I feel everybody is aware of I wish to have a pair beers at times,” Travis mentioned in a June statement, “so being an proprietor of Storage Beer and closely concerned in making one of the best mild beer is thrilling, man! There’s nothing higher to carry individuals collectively than an ice-cold beer, and for Jason and me that’s what beer is all about—mates, household and enjoyable.”
19. We’re sensing a theme relating to Travis’ responsible pleasure TV selections.
Again within the day, it was Gossip Girl: “I imply, it is superior,” he mentioned on New Heights. “It like a New York highschool present with a variety of drama and mainly all people gossiping and speaking s–t on one another.”
His new favourite present? Peacock’s Emmy-winning backstab-a-ganza The Traitors.
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20. In his twelfth 12 months within the NFL at 35, Travis has been extra open of late in regards to the toll the sport takes on the physique.
However he is been stoically getting hammered since day one, when he missed his rookie 12 months with a microfracture in his knee that required the primary of the 10 surgeries he is had in his profession.
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21. Travis put it on the market, speaking on New Heights about his thwarted attempt to present Taylor Swift a friendship bracelet together with his quantity on it when the Eras Tour touched down in Kansas Metropolis.
And after listening to by way of the grapevine (individuals in her camp who knew who Travis was and that he wished to fulfill her), she contacted him.
“She instructed me precisely what was happening,” he instructed WSJ. Magazine, “and the way I obtained fortunate sufficient to get her to achieve out to me.”
22. One among Travis’ favourite desserts since without end is French toast topped with whipped cream and syrups.
However extra just lately he is develop into a fan of his girlfriend’s homemade Pop-Tarts and cinnamon rolls.
23. At the least considered one of Travis’ ringtones is Chris Farley shrieking “For the love of God!” in Tommy Boy.
“I instructed Taylor that I’ve that world, I’ve obtained to introduce it to her,” he instructed WSJ. The Journal of sharing his affinity for the comedy stylings of Farley, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell together with his girlfriend. “I let her know: That is my jam proper right here.”
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24. After screaming “You have to struggle in your proper to get together!” after their AFC Championship win over the Bengals in 2019, Travis impressed the Chiefs to begin enjoying the Beastie Boys music of the identical title following each house sport landing at Arrowhead Stadium.
“It is like an vitality multiplier. That is exhausting to quantify simply how vital that’s,” Chiefs basic supervisor Brett Veach told ESPN in 2020. “He performs with that sort of character, charisma, ardour, and he brings individuals together with him. In our constructing, all people is mates with Travis Kelce. He’s an final vitality giver. He elevates all people’s temper, focus, consideration and on the finish of the day, he is nonetheless enjoyable.”
However the boisterous celebrant who introduced it into their lives admittedly did not know all of the phrases to the 1986 traditional till he was tasked with performing it with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Present in February 2023.
Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Pictures for TAS Rights Administration
25. Talking of his jams, in Could 2024 Travis cited his three favourite Taylor songs as “Clean House,” “The Alchemy” and “So Excessive College.”
Asked about it in September, nevertheless, his reply had modified to, “They’re all my favourite—actually each single one.”
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26. Comparisons to the Chiefs’ legendary tight finish Tony Gonzalez, who retired in 2013 after 17 seasons within the league, began early for Travis.
In 2015, when the chatter about whether or not he would, actually, surpass Tony’s achievements—and the way disappointing it will be if he did not—was heating up, Travis mentioned he paid the noise no thoughts.
“No person places greater expectations on me than myself,” he instructed Complex. “I need to have the best season statistically {that a} tight finish has ever had.”
On Sept. 29, Travis surpassed Tony to become the Chiefs’ all-time leader in receptions together with his 917th catch.
“It is loopy how issues all the time come full circle,” Travis mentioned on New Heights. “Being on the high of the leaderboard with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs who’ve been round because the ’60s, one of many starting organizations that made it during which can be nonetheless at their peak. And a variety of that’s as a result of wealthy historical past they’ve and to a man like Tony Gonzalez, who has been a mentor to me. I f–king love the man.”
27. Of Travis’ many accomplishments, conserving his home so as on his personal is not considered one of them.
“He cannot clear,” mother Donna Kelce instructed Extra in September. “He cannot prepare dinner.”
However maybe internet hosting a particular somebody when she’s on the town has served as further motivation to get it collectively.
“He is getting a little bit higher,” Donna acknowledged. “I feel he is getting some assist.”
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