Travis Kelce talks about his future in the NFL
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Travis Kelce won’t be putting his NFL career in the rearview mirror anytime soon.
“I have no reason to stop playing football,” Kelce, 34, told reporters on Thursday, January 11. press conference before the playoffs.
On the field, Kelce – a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs – remains one of the top players in the league. He will finish the 2023 season with 93 catches for 984 yards and five touchdowns in over 15 games. He also helped the Chiefs to their eighth straight AFC West Championship and their ninth straight playoff appearance with an overall record of 11–6. In November 2023, he broke the NFL record for reaching 11,000 receiving yards in fewest games as a tight end.
However, Kelce has also made a name for himself outside of football. After rekindling a romance with a girlfriend Taylor Swift last year, the pair became a beloved pop culture phenomenon. He has also become the face of the biopharmaceutical company Pfizer and host Saturday evening live in March 2023.
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Although Kelce has considered expanding his talents outside of football, he is in no rush to put entertainment before his life as an athlete.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do some of the things outside of sports that I enjoy, like being in front of the camera,” he explained on Thursday. “The SNL things have opened up a new happiness and a new career path for me, but it’s funny to even say that at this point in my career because I think it’s so much further down the road than it is now.
He added: “I love it. We are still having success.”
For now, Kelce is focused on helping his team get through the playoffs and defend its Super Bowl LVIII championship. The tight end didn’t even play in the Chiefs’ Sunday, Jan. 10 game against the Los Angeles Chargers to prepare his body for the remainder of the season.
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“If I could just get some rest over the next week, stay off the grass in LA and just avoid a few hits, I was all for getting ready for the playoffs,” Kelce explained during an episode his “New heightspodcast. The choice to sit out kept Kelce from breaking the record for the NFL tight end with most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He was just 16 yards shy of his eighth straight year. Instead, Travis closed finished the regular season with 984 receiving yards.
“It didn’t feel like I should be playing the game that way,” Travis explained on “New Heights,” adding that he’s “not saying anything on the record.”
“I never said here that if I don’t get a thousand meters, my season is a failure,” he continued. “I’ve always had it in my head … if I lose a Super Bowl, it’s a failure.”
Although Travis has no plans to retire from football anytime soon, his brother… Jason Kelce, is a different story. The Philadelphia Eagles center has been candid about his thoughts on hanging up his helmet for good.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are all anyone can talk about. Swift and Kelce were first linked in July 2023 when the Kansas City Chiefs tight end said he wanted to ask Swift out after attending her Eras Tour. ‘I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t give her one of the bracelets […]
“It’s getting harder and harder to play,” Jason, 36, explained during his Prime Video documentary Kelce, which premiered last year. “There have been little things that aren’t big things yet, but will turn into big things the longer I play.”
During a conversation with retired Eagles player Connor Barwin Later in the film, Jason, who has played for the Eagles since 2011, said he is “afraid” of the “long-term effects of playing football” after he retires.
“I have two girls, and some people end up getting CTE, some boys live long and healthy lives, I have no idea what’s going to happen,” he said.