Chiefs tight end and three-time Super Bowl champion who delayed retirement for a 14th NFL season.
Travis Kelce sat with retirement for several weeks after the Chiefs' 14-12 Week 18 loss to the Raiders ended their season. He returned. On March 9, 2026 he signed a one-year, $12 million deal that was later restructured into a three-year, $54.7 million pact. The all-time tight-end king is back for one more run with Patrick Mahomes.
Path to the league
Cincinnati Bearcats product who slid to pick 63 in the 2013 NFL Draft after a brief college suspension. Took two years to break through. From 2016 on, he caught at least 80 passes in nine straight seasons. The Mahomes era turned him into the highest-volume tight end the league has ever seen.
Career highlights
1,080 career receptions and 13,002 receiving yards, both top-five all-time among tight ends and the most ever by a Chief. Three Super Bowl champion (LIV, LVII, LVIII). Ten-time Pro Bowler. Four-time first-team All-Pro. The first tight end ever with 1,000 receiving yards in seven consecutive seasons. Broke the Chiefs' all-time touchdown record (84) in October 2025.
2025 season recap
76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns, a quiet season by his standards. Mahomes' ACL tear in December capped Kelce's production in the back half. Still gave a Hall of Fame swan-song candidate-level effort in the playoff push with Carson Wentz. Caught seven passes in the AFC Championship loss to New England.
What to watch in 2026
Kelce is 36 in October. The Chiefs handed him the three-year extension partly as a thank-you and partly because their succession plan at tight end isn't ready (third-round pick Travis Long is the heir apparent). With Mahomes returning from ACL surgery, the offense will lean on Kelce more than the Chiefs probably want. The final-season storyline is real.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Travis Kelce
- NFL.com: Kelce returns for 14th season
- Pro Football Reference: Travis Kelce
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Receiving
17 games played▶Receiving · career
| Year | Team | GP | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | chiefs | 17 | 76 | 851 | 11.2 | 5 | 44 |
| 2024 | chiefs | 16 | 97 | 823 | 8.5 | 3 | 38 |
| 2023 | chiefs | 15 | 93 | 984 | 10.6 | 5 | 53 |
| 2022 | chiefs | 17 | 110 | 1,338 | 12.2 | 12 | 52 |
| 2021 | chiefs | 16 | 92 | 1,125 | 12.2 | 9 | 69 |
| 2020 | chiefs | 15 | 105 | 1,416 | 13.5 | 11 | 45 |
| 2019 | chiefs | 16 | 97 | 1,229 | 12.7 | 5 | 47 |
| 2018 | chiefs | 16 | 103 | 1,336 | 13.0 | 10 | 43 |
| 2017 | chiefs | 15 | 83 | 1,038 | 12.5 | 8 | 44 |
| 2016 | chiefs | 16 | 85 | 1,125 | 13.2 | 4 | 80 |
| 2015 | chiefs | 16 | 72 | 875 | 12.2 | 5 | 42 |
| 2014 | chiefs | 16 | 67 | 862 | 12.9 | 5 | 34 |
▶Rushing · career
| Year | Team | GP | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | chiefs | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | chiefs | 16 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2022 | chiefs | 17 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021 | chiefs | 16 | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2019 | chiefs | 16 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 4 |
| 2017 | chiefs | 15 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 2016 | chiefs | 16 | 1 | -5 | -5.0 | 0 | -5 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Tight End
- Group
- offense
- College
- Cincinnati
- Hometown
- Cleveland Heights, OH, USA
- Age
- 36
- Status
- active
Latest news about Travis Kelce
All news →Is Madison Square Garden where Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are getting married?
Kelce flew straight from Chiefs minicamp to watch Swift get inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at MSG on Thursday. Now the internet is doing the math.
Travis Kelce bought into the Cleveland Guardians. 'I'm just a kid from the Heights living the dream.'
The Chiefs tight end grew up riding the light rail downtown with his father to watch Guardians games. Now he's part of the ownership group, joining LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes as active athletes who own pieces of MLB franchises.
Mahomes reminded everyone about Kelce's Guardians first pitch the moment he heard about the ownership stake
Kelce's 2023 ceremonial first pitch at Progressive Field sailed wide. Mahomes has not forgotten. He apparently never will.
Rashee Rice had right-knee surgery a week before reporting to jail
The Chiefs receiver will miss OTAs and minicamp after a cleanup procedure on the same knee that ended his 2024 season.
