Chiefs' Travis Kelce Confirms He'll Return for 2025 NFL Season After Pat McAfee Video

One of the best tight ends in NFL history is coming back for a 13th season.

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce announced on Thursday via his New Heights podcast that he will be returning for another season:

The team's official account also posted about the tight end's projected return for a 13th season:

That comes after ESPN's Pat McAfee had teased the news:

The possibility of the 35-year-old retiring is not a new one, as he was asked about it before the 2024 season during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. He said, "I'm still enjoying coming to work. I'm not dreading practices."

Perhaps most notably, he also said retirement "didn't cross my mind one bit" after winning what was a second straight Super Bowl during the 2023 season.

The timing of returning for the 2025 season is notable, as it is the final year of his contract. Perhaps this upcoming year will be his final one in the NFL, which would coincide nicely with his current deal and remove any concern from the Chiefs' perspective of signing him to a contract extension at this stage of his career.

Regardless of what happens in 2025 and beyond, Kelce will forever be a Kansas City legend.

The 2013 third-round pick has been with the AFC West team his entire career and amassed a Hall of Fame resume that includes three Super Bowl titles, four first-team All-Pro selections and 10 Pro Bowl nods.

He posted more than 1,000 receiving yards in seven consecutive seasons from 2016 through 2022 and reached double-digit touchdown catches three times in that span.

Kelce is third among all tight ends in NFL history with 12,151 receiving yards, which is behind only Tony Gonzalez (15,127) and Jason Witten (13,046). He could surpass Witten with another 1,000-yard effort in 2025 now that he is returning to the Chiefs.

The future Hall of Famer is also fifth among all tight ends in NFL history with 77 touchdown receptions. Only Antonio Gates, Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham have more.

As if the individual statistics weren't enough to place him among the NFL's elite, he is also a cornerstone of a modern-day dynasty in Kansas City. The Chiefs entered the 2024 campaign as back-to-back Super Bowl champions with the opportunity to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Lombardi Trophies.

They also entered the season having gone to six straight AFC Championship Games and four of the previous five Super Bowls.

That put plenty of pressure on their shoulders, and Kelce responded by finishing the regular season with 97 catches for 823 yards and three touchdowns. It wasn't his best individual season, but he led the Chiefs in receiving yards and helped them clinch the AFC's No. 1 seed and first-round bye.

All they did was reach yet another Super Bowl, although they fell short of history when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on the sport's biggest stage. Kelce tallied 117 receiving yards and a touchdown in the AFC Divisional Round win over the Houston Texans, but he was relatively quiet in the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl.

Even with the loss to the Eagles, anything Kelce does from here will just be adding to one of the best tight end resumes in NFL history.

Still, he surely has his eye on another championship with this decision.