Travis Kelce may resign if Chiefs pull three-peat, ESPN star says

Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN football analyst Dan Orlovsky offered his thoughts on whether Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce could retire sooner rather than later.

Kelce, 35, recently completed his 12th season in the league. He finished the regular season with 823 yards, marking the second straight year the star tight end fell short of the 1,000-yard receiving mark.

Although Kelce received Pro Bowl honors for the tenth consecutive year and remains a productive player, he is certainly closer to the end of his football career than he is to the beginning. All of this comes as the Chiefs pursue an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl championship. Should the Chiefs ultimately hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy next month, Orlovsky believes it could become “a very real thing” for the seven-time All-Pro to call it quits.

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Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce during a media day at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa, Henderson. Image date: Wednesday, February 7, 2024. (PA Wire/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Kelce is fully capable of being a difference maker. I think he has a great run left,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s long-running daytime program “First Take.”

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“I think if he goes and has that vintage Kelce performance that I fully, one, think he’s capable of, and two, will do, and they go on and three-peat, think i that retirement is going to be a very real thing for Travis Kelce.

“There would be nothing else to accomplish. He would be arguably the best tight end ever. He would be the tight end that was part of (the Chiefs’) only three-peat in NFL history. He’s obviously later in his career, I don’t think there would be anything left in him.”

Kelce has struggled with questions about when he will decide to end his NFL career. During a recent appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” he admitted that his thoughts on retirement tend to fluctuate, but he plans to “reevaluate” things heading into the offseason.

Dan Orlovsky looks on prior to Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

“I love everything that I do … but at the end of the day, I don’t have that extreme success on the field,” Kelce said. “I’m excited for the next few games … to finish this season. I’m going to reassess it like I always do, (and) I’m probably going to tell myself how much I love this thing and I’m going to come back next year .”

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) scores on a 48-yard touchdown reception in the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

The NFL veteran added that pop star Taylor Swift continues to offer her full support as far as his playing career is concerned. “She totally encourages me to enjoy playing this game,” Kelce Smith shared.

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“I got all the support in the world to keep chasing these dreams,” the three-time Super Bowl winner said before noting that the “Anti-Hero” singer “loves to come” to games to see him and Chiefs play.

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