Chiefs' Travis Kelce Explains Work Ethic, Says He's 'Trying to Win Super Bowls'

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce didn't hesitate when asked on Wednesday why it was important to maintain his work ethic ahead of his 13th NFL season.

"Trying to win Super Bowls, man," Kelce told reporters. "It's the only way you get there.

"And I think it starts in the offseason, and when you get out here to St. Joe, and you get into training camp, it really signifies coming together, the chemistry, the culture that you need to have to keep getting better every single day, every single week throughout the year, and hopefully playing your best football by December, January and February."

Kelce shrugged off retirement rumors this offseason by returning to Kansas City for his age-36 season.

After posting seven straight 1,000 receiving-yard campaigns between 2016 and 2022, Kelce has seen his production decline for the last two seasons.

He finished the 2024 campaign having recorded 97 catches for three touchdowns and 823 receiving yards, his lowest total since his second full NFL campaign in 2015.

The veteran tight end, who played a key role in the Chiefs' back-to-back Super Bowl wins after the 2022 and 2023 seasons, then made just four catches for 39 yards and no touchdowns in a Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kelce said on a March episode of the New Heights podcast he hosts with his brother Jason Kelce that this disappointing end to the 2024 season had motivated him to return for at least one more campaign in 2025.

"I love playing. I still feel like I could play it at a high level, and possibly at a higher level than I did last year," Kelce said at the 2:45 mark of the March podcast. "I don't think it was my best outing. I think I let my guys down in a lot more moments when I helped them, especially when you look at my track record, and how I've been in years past.

"I want to give it a good run. I've got a bad taste in my mouth on how I ended the year, and how well I was playing... I feel like there's a responsibility in me to play out the contract that I initially signed, to give Kansas City and the Chiefs organization everything I've got."

Noah Gray, who is heading into his fifth season with the Chiefs, credited Kelce's return with helping the tight end group develop this offseason when speaking to reporters during the first week of training camp.

"He just keeps giving more and more information to us about what he's seeing on the field," Gray told reporters. "Watching him, and his practice habits, and the way he works, always rubs off on us. So when you've got a leader like that, that continues to lead the room, continues to lead the team, it rubs off on everybody else and it makes a huge diference."

Kansas City will hope a resurgence from Kelce, as well as development in the offensive line, can help Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs remain competitive enough to make a fourth straight Super Bowl appearance this winter.