For a while now, there has been chatter about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce possibly retiring.
Earlier this past season, there were even rumors that Kelce could call it quits after 2023, but he later refuted those reports and said that he planned on playing for at least another year.
Well, now, he will likely be hitting the gridiron for a minimum of four more seasons.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL media, the Chiefs have signed Kelce to a two-year contract extension. The deal will make Kelce the highest-paid tight end in football and will take him through 2027.
The fact that Kelce will be returning for 2024 is hardly a shock given the fact that Kansas City can become the first team to three-peat in the Super Bowl era. Surely, Kelce would want to be a part of that quest.
However, him committing past next season is slightly surprising given the fact that Kelce has clearly contemplated the idea of retiring and seems to have a bright future in media lined up.
The 34-year-old is coming off of a 2023 campaign in which he caught 93 passes for 984 yards and five touchdowns en route to his ninth straight trip to the Pro Bowl. He also broke Jerry Rice’s record for most career postseason catches when he added 32 more receptions to his resume this past winter.
Kelce, who played his collegiate football at the University of Cincinnati, was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
He broke out in his second NFL season, snaring 67 balls for 862 yards and five scores. He then made his first Pro Bowl in 2015, and from 2016 through 2022, he posted seven straight 1,000-yard campaigns.
Kelce’s best year during that span came in 2020, when he set the single-season record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,416. He hauled in 105 receptions to go along with 11 touchdowns that season.
We’ll see if Travis Kelce can help lead Kansas City to a third straight Super Bowl title in 2024.
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