Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce hasn’t made up his mind about his possible retirement, although many of his Chiefs teammates consider it a done deal. Kelce has been dodging the question for several weeks now, but he did provide a sliver of hopeful the fan base when he cited his need to get his body right before he can make a final decision.
“If my body can heal up and rest up, and I can feel confident that I can go out there and give it another 18, 20, 21-week run,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast with his brother Jason, via Devon Henderson of The Athletic. “I think I would do it in a heartbeat. I think right now it’s just finding that answer and seeing how the body feels after (the Week 18) game.”
Some would call this playing the “healing” card, but that takes a lot of cynicism. Suffice to say that this is a more honest reaction than several of Kelce’s responses right after the season, which were basically “I don’t know” couched in pro jock speak.
The truth is that many high-level athletes find themselves in a similar position to Kelce’s when they’re asked about this following a disappointing season.
These are the guys who give it all when it comes to extra training and film work—every minute of every day, almost literally, is geared toward either just getting on the field or being able to perform to the best of their ability. They’re in some pain after that last game, and that pain is both emotional and physical. For Kelce, though, there’s something else there.
“There’s a lot of love for the game still there,” Chelsea added said on his podcast. “I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.”
That quote’s a lot closer to jock-speak. Kelce knows as well as anyone that there are a lot of conversations to be had about his contract and his role. It’s unlikely that he’d going to take a haircut, salary-wise, nor should he even have to consider that possibility. Kelce is trying to keep that fact out of the conversation, not to mention that he’s got a billionaire bride-to-be who’ll be waiting for him at the altar in the near future.
The Chiefs are facing something resembling a reconstruction at this point. They’ve exploited the prime of quarterback Patrick Mahomes for every title it’s been worth, not to mention some winning seasons that obviously wouldn’t have happened under different circumstances. There’s a long way to go before we know if he’ll be part of it, but his comments about healing up are a different side of this we don’t usually hear much about.