Travis Kelce's retirement decision will be made, one way or the other, in the weeks or months ahead.
The Kansas City Chiefs certainly don't want to see him go. The 36-year old tight end remains better than anyone else they've got at that position, and he's still got great chemistry with Patrick Mahomes.
That makes what ESPN beat writer Nate Taylor wrote on Monday particularly interesting. It was almost less of an update on the status and more of a hope, with the Chiefs simply crossing their fingers and urging Kelce to come back.
"The odds might not be in the Chiefs' favor, but he is still productive and someone Patrick Mahomes trusts over any other pass catcher," Taylor wrote. "A reasonable one-year contract could lead to Kelce returning to the roster for Mahomes' return following his recovery from a left knee injury."
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There's no guarantee Mahomes will be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season, but he should be back at some point in the first half of the campaign.
Kelce seems like a guy who might not want to go out having missed the playoffs so miserably. He clearly didn't like how last season ended, with a blowout loss in the Super Bowl. This never made it to that big a stage, but it still can't have been fun.
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And in his final game Sunday, Kelce and the Chiefs couldn't even beat the Raiders. He had just three catches for 12 yards in a bummer of an ending.
Would that really be the way Kelce would depart the NFL? There's certainly reason to believe not.
He'll get married to Taylor Swift in June, take a honeymoon, and then maybe have more football left to play. We'll all just have to wait and see.
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