Chiefs' Travis Kelce Thinks About Retirement 'More Than Anyone Could Ever Imagine'

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce remains one of the best at his position, but that hasn't stopped him from pondering life after football.

The eight-time Pro Bowler told J.R. Moehringer of WSJ. Magazine he thinks about retirement "more than anyone could ever imagine." He added that the physical toll he has absorbed is "the only thing I've never really been open about."

"The discomfort. The pain. The lingering injuries—the 10 surgeries I've had that I still feel every single surgery to this day," he said.

Kelce was limited to one game as a rookie in 2013. Since then, he has been absent for just jour games, and only one of those was explicitly injury-related. Twice Kansas City rested him in the final week of the regular season, and he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list for one week in 2021.

Because of that, it's easy to assume the 34-year-old has avoided the kind of injuries that can lead a player to hang up the cleats while he still has plenty left in the tank. However, his interview with Moehringer made it clear how he has put a lot of wear and tear on his body.

In general, it wouldn't be surprising if Kelce walked away from the NFL with little to no warning. He has already achieved everything he can on both an individual and team scale. The two-time Super Bowl champion is one of the greatest tight ends of his generation, earning a spot on the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 2010s.

Kelce's celebrity off the field has exploded as well, setting him up nicely for whatever he pursues post-retirement. He was a commercial pitchman and hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live before his ongoing relationship with Taylor Swift sent his Q Score into the stratosphere.

There's nothing to indicate the 6'5" pass-catcher is imminently on his way out the door. But his comments serve as a reminder that there will come a day when Patrick Mahomes will need to find a new primary target through the air.