Kansas City Chiefs fans were fearing that Travis Kelce might retire from football too early. Now, they worry he could stay too long.
It emerged on Monday that the tight end has signed a shock three-year deal to remain with the Chiefs which if fulfilled, would see him playing until he is nearly 40.
The contract is worth $54million across three years, potentially rising up to $57.7m and was first reported by NFL Insider Ian Rapoport.
However, the deal has been set up to for Kelce to retire after the 2026 season is over. His salary for the coming year is $12million, with up to $3million in bonuses.
Should he want to keep on playing beyond that, terms would almost certainly be reneogtiated. The possibility is clearly there, though, after Monday’s announcement.
The idea of Kelce suiting up for the Chiefs up until 2029 alarmed some of their fans, as much as they didn’t want him to retire just yet.
Travis Kelce has finally put pen to paper on a new contract with the Kansas City Chiefs
Kelce, 36, now has the option to keep on playing football with the Chiefs until he is 39
‘He looked mid last season, he’s gonna be in a wheelchair by season 3,’ one fan wrote back.
Another said: ‘Bro wont retire, as a Chiefs fan i was fine with one more year but not 3.’
A different verdict read: ‘The last two have to be void years. No way he plans to play another 3 years!’
Perhaps tellingly, Kelce himself only alluded to the coming year in a short message to Chiefs fans after putting pen to paper.
‘Chiefs Kingdom, let’s go baby!’ Kelce said. ‘It’s official, can’t wait to be back for 2026 and to put on the Chiefs jersey uniform in front of you guys. Let’s get Arrowhead rocking! See you in a few months.’
Kelce actually enjoyed an upturn in form in 2025 but it was at a time when the Chiefs went to pieces around him and failed to make the postseason.
He ended last season as the most senior player on the field with Patrick Mahomes ruled out after tearing his ACL in mid-December.
The quarterback is a close friend of Kelces’s and is now hitting the comeback trail in order to be back in time for Week 1 in early December.
The new contract means Kelce will reunite on the field once agains with Patrick Mahomes
Kelce and fiancee Taylor Swift are expected to get married in June later this year
In the meantime, though, a big offseason is ahead for Kelce. He is expected to marry his fiancee Taylor Swift this June before hitting practice camp and getting ready for another NFL season.
Kelce might be eyeing up a game at the soccer World Cup later this year, too.
He signed his new Chiefs deal while wearing the goalkeeper jersey of the USA soccer team ahead of this summer’s competition on home soil.
The USA’s three group games are in California and Washington in June, against Paraguay and Australia and a qualifier that is still to be determined.
