The NFL continues to flirt with the possibility of an 18-game schedule, but Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce already has played more often than that in each of the last six seasons.
Such is the price of success in the NFL.
The Chiefs have made a deep playoff run in every season that Patrick Mahomes has been the starting quarterback. Those extra games can take a toll on a football player’s body.
That’s one point Kelce made on the latest episode of his New Heights podcast when discussing whether he might retire. Kelce, 35, gave a long hug to Mahomes on the sideline late in the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, and fans thought it was a football farewell.
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Kelce, however, said on the New Heights podcast, which was released on February 12, he hasn’t made a decision on his future. But he admitted this season wasn’t as fun as it had been in the past.
“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,” Kelce said. “I’m kicking every can I can down the road. And 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.
“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. And that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league, and that’s a lot of wear and tear on your body.”
Kelce said those extra games didn’t just take a physical toll.
“It’s a lot of time spent in the building, focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand, every challenge that you set up for yourself,” he noted. “And that process can be grueling. It can weigh on you, it can make you better, and it could drive you crazy at the same time. And right now, it’s one of those things where it was kind of driving me crazy this year, and I think that it happens as you kind of tail off toward the back nine of your career as SVP (ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt) would say.
“As you see yourself or not feel yourself have the success that you once used to have, it’s a tough pill to swallow. 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.”
In his time away from football, Kelce has started an acting career. He’s appeared in television shows and soon will be in movies, such as Happy Gilmore 2. So he’s got options away from football.
The Chiefs missed a chance at the NFL’s first Super Bowl three-peat and he admitted that stung. That’s why he’s not making a decision on his football future right now.
But Kelce, who has one year left on his contract with the Chiefs, outlined what it would take for a return to football.
“I’m gonna take some time to figure it out, and I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back, that it’s gonna be something that it’s a wholehearted decision,” he said. “I’m not half-a–ing it. And I’m fully here for them, and I think, 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.”
—Pete Grathoff, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) (TNS)
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