Mike Tannenbaum’s Travis Kelce take sparks immediate backlash

It would be easy to drag Mike Tannenbaum at the current moment.

Tannenbaum is currently a talking head on ESPN, parlaying his extensive experience as a decision-maker for NFL franchises into a cushier media opportunity at the Worldwide Leader offering analysis and opinions. And his latest opinion is enough to make a man put his phone down.

Specifically, Tannenbaum weighed in on the potential return of Travis Kelce to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 14th NFL season. Typically the onus is assumedly on Kelce to decide whether or not he even wants to retire or reunite with the team that drafted him. However, Tannenbaum had a different take on SportsCenter recently that turned the heads of Chiefs Kingdom.

"I would move on from Travis Kelce, and let me tell you why. When you’re in the front office, you have to project what a player is going to do, not what they’ve done. I’ve made that mistake countless times in my career, and Travis Kelce is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But when you watch him and make an honest and sober evaluation of his 2025 performance, clearly, his best days are behind him," said Tannenbaum.

"When you talk about their lack of explosive plays, I would make the right albeit difficult decision to move on from Travis Kelce and try to get younger, faster, and more explosive at the tight end position."

Mike Tannenbaum is talking crazy when it comes to how the Chiefs should view Travis Kelce's future.

Everybody knows that the Chiefs do not have that choice. They just don't. Kelce is more than a player. He's a globally recognized brand and franchise face for a team that already has one. He's also a living legend who is rewriting the record books with each passing season, both on a team and league level. He's the rare commodity that calls his own shots, and no one should question otherwise.

Even if the Chiefs somehow could make that call, they wouldn't want to do so. Kelce still enjoyed one of the most productive seasons by a tight end in the NFL last year. He's never going to harm the team's performance by insisting on his own way. If he's back, it's on his competitive terms, which is exactly what the Chiefs want and need, both on the field and in the locker room. He's a coach to younger players and an inspiration for fans.

Saying "his best days are behind him" is ignoring what he still offers—that 80 percent of prime Kelce is still a valuable asset. Then again, this is the same general manager that once traded for Tim Tebow. (To his credit, he also drafted Darrelle Revis, but giving some credit here isn't helpful for our argument.)

At any rate, no one is having this, especially Kelce's teammate Chris Jones, who wasn't going to let this one slide by.

The bottom line is that the Chiefs have already said they want Kelce back and that's the only acceptable (and desirable) stance. How Tannenbaum fails to understand this is beyond us, but maybe that's the missing piece here—that talking heads only get heard if they say something outrageous. Credibility is no longer needed when sitting behind the media desk.