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Adam Teicher
NEW ORLEANS — Travis Kelce said it wasn’t a difficult decision to continue to play for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2025 and perhaps beyond. Any time he thought about retirement, he listened to what was important to him.
“I’ve got a full heart of football left in me,” Kelce said as the Chiefs continued preparations for Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles. “I really love this game and I think throughout the year it can get pretty tough. But it’s moments like these, the playoffs, these memories that I’ll have with the teammates and coaches that I go to war with … wanting to keep that legacy or keep finding new ways to create those memories I think will, I don’t know, just keep fueling me and my love for football.”
Kelce, 35, was far and away the Chiefs’ leader this season in pass receptions with 97. But he had career lows in both yards (823) and touchdowns (three).
But he said big personal statistics were no longer driving him as they once did.
“Early on in my career I think a lot of my motivation was driven off of individual success, wanting to get that acknowledgement of my peers, of the people watching the game that I was somebody fun to watch or I was worth watching, or I was worth having on your team,” Kelce said. “Nowadays I just love going to work with the guys that I’m in the building with. I love sharing these memories. I love figuring out these game plans, figuring out how we’re going to attack a defense. There’s just a certain love that I’ve found in it, and I think it’s because of the people that I go to work with.”
The Chiefs are trying to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowl championships when they face the Eagles on Sunday. This is their fifth Super Bowl appearance in the past six years. In the first four, they are 3-1.
Beyond a chase for more championships, Kelce said he was looking forward to being someone to help guide younger teammates, a role he started this season.
“I feel like this year I kind of stepped into a role of being more of a voice for the guys,” Kelce said. “We had a lot of new faces, whether it was guys that we picked up in the offseason or guys we picked up throughout the season … just being able to be there for the young guys and help them understand the offense better and hopefully understand how to weather the storm.”