Travis Kelce is a Kansas City Chiefs legend and a surefire Hall of Famer. He's an 11-time Pro Bowler, a seven-time All-Pro (four times First Team, three times Second Team), and a three-time Super Bowl champion. He has made millions of dollars, has a future in media with his hit New Heights podcast, and is engaged to the biggest music star on the planet. In short, his life is pretty great. However, for someone as competitive as Travis Kelce, the end of the 2025 season would be a bitter way for his career to end.
The Chiefs’ 14–12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders may have locked the Chiefs into the ninth overall pick, but you could tell by the look on Kelce's face that it wasn't how he wanted the season to end. Is that because it was his final NFL game, or just because it was another close loss in an incredibly disappointing season? Hopefully that question will be answered soon.
Kelce was undoubtedly hoping to end his Chiefs career by getting one last Super Bowl ring. Not only did that not happen, but the Chiefs went 6–11 and had the first losing season of Kelce's 13-year NFL career. Will Kelce be able to go out on his only losing season, or will he want to avenge it and at least go out a winner, even if it doesn't lead to a Super Bowl?
Travis Kelce has had one of the most successful careers in Kansas City Chiefs history, but if he retires now he'll have ended it on a sour note.
Then there is the fact that he ended without his best friend and football soulmate, Patrick Mahomes, on the field with him. While Kelce had a great relationship with Alex Smith early in his career, he and Mahomes will go down in NFL history as one of the league's greatest duos. They've won three Super Bowls together, put up incredible numbers, and became inseparable buddies along the way. Unfortunately, Patrick Mahomes’ knee injury meant that Kelce's final three games were mostly with Chris Oladokun at quarterback. Travis Kelce ending his career without Mahomes just feels wrong.
To make matters worse, there was also a dramatic drop-off in his production to end his season. Despite being 36 years old, Kelce was still one of the most productive tight ends in the NFL this season, at least up until the Mahomes injury. With three games to go, he already had 67 receptions, 797 yards, and five touchdowns. However, in his final three games, he totaled just nine catches for 16 yards and no touchdowns. That has to be an incredibly frustrating way for one of the most productive players of all time to end his career (if he does decide to end it).
Finally, while Travis Kelce did become just the third tight end in NFL history to reach 13,000 career receiving yards in his last game of the season, he came up short of passing Jason Witten for second on the all-time list of tight ends. Kelce needs just 45 more yards to pass Witten (who has 79 more career games played). That is so close that it too would be a bit of a letdown if his career ended today.
Travis Kelce will deserve to be celebrated as both one of the greatest players to ever play in a Chiefs uniform and as one of (if not the) greatest tight ends in NFL history, regardless of when he retires. He played a huge part in bringing three Lombardi Trophies home to Kansas City and has given Chiefs Kingdom a lifetime of great memories. However, this isn't the way anyone (including Kelce) would have drawn up the end of his storied career. Will that be enough to motivate him to come back for one more year? Only time will tell.