Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will add to his Hall of Fame resume early in the season as he chases historic numbers.
The 2026 National Football League season will be an emotional and sentimental one for Kansas City Chiefs fans and their players.
There’s an extremely good chance that the Chiefs will say goodbye to their legendary and future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce at the end of the season, though he hasn’t officially announced that this season will be his last.
Kelce, 36, has put together perhaps the greatest career by a tight end in the history of the NFL, having the accolades and statistics to back it up.
Kelce is an 11-time Pro Bowler, seven-time All-Pro (four-time First-Team) and three-time Super Bowl champion, all while repping the Chiefs uniform. In his 13-year career, Kelce has amassed 1,080 catches for 13,002 yards and 82 touchdowns across 192 games.
Kelce is third all-time in receptions and receiving yards, and fifth in touchdowns while being 22nd in games played amongst tight ends – establishing himself as one of, if not the best tight end to play the game.
And he has room to cement his case; with 45 receiving yards, Kelce will pass Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten for second on the list.
“Entering this season, Kelce has 13,002 receiving yards. All he needs is 45 yards to surpass Jason Witten for the second most by a tight end in NFL history,” ESPN’s Nate Taylor wrote Monday. “Fans can expect Kelce to reach this next accomplishment in the Chiefs' season opener against the Broncos, a rival he has tormented throughout his Hall of Fame-worthy career.
“[Patrick] Mahomes, who is expected to be ready for Week 1 after knee surgery, has always made Kelce his go-to pass catcher on third down. It's possible Kelce passes Witten on a third down before the "Monday Night Football" halftime show.”
Kelce has some gas left in the tank and I expect him to come out of the gate swinging, especially during a huge divisional matchup to open the season.
It will be hard to not watch the Mahomes-Kelce connection every week after they’ve graced us with outstanding performance after outstanding performance throughout the regular seasons and postseasons, but we’re approaching that time.
But you have to love that Kelce wouldn’t call it quits after a disastrous 2025 season, one where neither he nor the team performed up to their standards and Mahomes suffered a season-ending injury late in the season.
That leads me to believe that him and Mahomes will have a signature season and if it is the last year of Kelce’s career, it ends with a bang.
