Chiefs' Travis Kelce Rejects NFL Retirement, 'Hopefully' Will Be Playing in 3 Years

Any talk of Travis Kelce looking to retire probably isn't coming from anyone in his camp.

The Kansas City Chiefs star dismissed retirement talk at Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, telling reporters he will "hopefully" still be playing in three years:

Kelce has fueled some of the retirement speculation by not outright dismissing it in the past when he's talked about it. He told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith last month that his thoughts on retirement change "every single day," but he hasn't let himself think too hard about it at this point (starts at 26:15 mark).

There's no denying that age has started to slow Kelce down. He's been held under 1,000 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons after surpassing that mark in seven consecutive years from 2016 to '22.

Kelce's 823 receiving yards this season were his fewest since his rookie year in 2013 when a knee injury limited him to just one game. He also had the fewest yards per reception (8.5) of his career this season.

The only active tight end who is older than the 35-year-old Kelce is Marcedes Lewis (40). Even with some physical limitations at this stage of his career, Kelce is still capable of taking over a game.

Kelce had a season-high 117 yards in the Chiefs' 23-14 victory over the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round. He remains the primary target for Patrick Mahomes, leading the team in the regular season with 133 targets and 97 receptions.

As long as the Chiefs keep winning, why wouldn't Kelce want to keep playing? They're in the midst of one of the great runs in NFL history with seven consecutive appearances in the AFC Championship Game and a fifth Super Bowl appearance since 2019 awaiting on Sunday.

Kelce and the Chiefs will look to become the first team ever to win three consecutive Super Bowls when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59.