Travis Kelce has officially confirmed that he will be returning to the Kansas City Chiefs for his 14th season in the NFL.
On an episode of the podcast New Heights, which he co-hosts with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, Travis opened up about how he came to this decision. He also discussed the role that his fiancée, Taylor Swift, played in the process.
The episode aired on Wednesday, March 11, the morning after the exciting news broke that Travis would be coming back for a 14th season.
“Yeah, we’re doing it again. It’ll be fun, gonna reunite with my friends,” Travis said as he began the discussion regarding his return.
Jason asked him the question that many fans have been wondering: when did he know “for sure” that he would be coming back?
“About midway through [my 13th] season,” Travis responded.
It was a challenging past season for Travis, with the Chiefs not making the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Many speculated that this would be the end for the award-winning tight end.
Travis admits that retirement wasn’t something that was out of the question for him earlier in the season. However, he decided to take his brother’s advice to take a “step back” and reflect before coming to a decision.
He also explained that Swift helped motivate him to delay retirement.
“She has … we share the same love for what we do, and fortunately, we’ve had this desire since we were kids in our selective professions,” he said.
“It’s just amazing to see her keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies and things like that,” he continued. “And on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does.”