KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) 鈥� Travis Kelce will be back catching passes from Patrick Mahomes for the Kansas City Chiefs one more time.
The Chiefs made official their deal to bring the four-time All-Pro tight end back for a 14th season Wednesday, when the new league year made pending contracts official. The 36-year-old Kelce had decided in recent days to shove off retirement for another year rather than end a superlative career that includes three Super Bowl rings with a 6-11 record this past season.
The one-year deal for Kelce is worth $12 million with incentives that could push the total to $15 million.
鈥淵ou always need to take a step back, breathe and let the emotions of the season settle down and see where the body is,” Kelce said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday. 鈥淢an, I鈥檓 still in love with this game. I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game.鈥�
Kelce had indicated as far back as the NFL scouting combine that he wanted to play for Kansas City if he returned.
鈥淢y best opportunity was playing for the Chiefs yet again and running this thing back,鈥� Kelce said. “There鈥檚 a lot of pieces in Kansas City that I just absolutely love and I can鈥檛 wait to get back in the building with them.鈥�
Kelce also said his fiancee, pop superstar Taylor Swift, played a role in his decision to return.
“We share the same love for what we do, and fortunately we鈥檝e had this desire since we were kids in our selective professions,鈥� Kelce said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to see her keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies and, on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does.
鈥淥f course that鈥檚 motivating. That鈥檚 motivating for anybody to see, let alone my fianc茅e, knowing that I鈥檓 going through something where I鈥檓 trying to figure out exactly what the future holds for me.”
As for the Chiefs, the chance to keep playing for coach Andy Reid and alongside best buddy Mahomes 鈥� who hopes to be ready for Week 1 after late-season surgery on a torn knee ligament 鈥� was enticing.
So was the chance to play once more for Eric Bieniemy, who is returning for a second stint as Kansas City’s offensive coordinator after the departure of Matt Nagy.
The Chiefs were happy to give Kelce some time to make his decision. But they also were hopeful that it would come by the start of the new league year, giving them some cost certainty for free agency and roster certainty ahead of the NFL draft.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e kind of taken a different approach with Travis in the sense that we鈥檝e prepared for either scenario,鈥� Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said during last month鈥檚 scouting combine. 鈥淐oach (Reid) had mentioned he鈥檚 had great dialogue with Travis. On our end, myself, (assistant general manager) Chris Shea and Travis鈥� crew, we鈥檝e had some good dialogue there.
鈥淭ravis is the best, he鈥檚 an icon and hopefully he comes back and we鈥檒l just let that process play out.鈥�
Kelce began contemplating retirement even before last season, but he quickly decided that he didn’t want his career to end with a Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia. He instead redoubled his offseason conditioning work and returned in his best shape in years, and he wound up catching 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns last season.
But whether he can sustain that pace yet again is a big question mark. Kelce turns 37 in October.
鈥淭he biggest thing coming back was that we鈥檝e got to be even more hungrier than we鈥檝e been before. Talking to Pat and Coach Reid and the guys, it鈥檚 pretty (evident) there鈥檚 a lot of 鈥榙og鈥� mentality right now to get this thing fixed,” Kelce said. 鈥淭hat mentality itself is already motivating me to get to where I need to be during the season.鈥�
___
AP NFL:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
