Over the past several seasons, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been the most dominant tight end in the NFL. But as the Chiefs compete for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title, one NFL insider thinks there’s a real chance that Kelce could choose to retire after this season.
During an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take,” NFL analyst and insider Dan Orlovsky suggested that if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl this year behind a strong postseason performance from Travis Kelce, he could realistically choose to retire after the season.
“Kelce is fully capable of being the difference-maker. I think he’s got one great run left,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s long-running daytime program “First Take” according to Awful Announcing.
“I think if he goes and has that vintage Kelce performance, which I fully, one, think he’s capable of, and two, will do, and they go on and three-peat, I think retirement becomes a very real thing for Travis Kelce.
“There would be nothing else to accomplish. He’d be arguably the greatest tight end of all time. He would be the tight end that was part of the only three-peat in the history of the NFL. He’s obviously later in his career. I don’t think there would be anything left. And I think he’s got one, elite, great, difference-maker, vintage, ‘Oh my Gosh, he did it again’ run left in him.”
Of course, there would be several good reasons for Kelce to walk away from the game. Not only does Kelce have a lot going on outside of football with his budding acting career and his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift, but it’s pretty clear that his on-field performance is declining, too.
Kelce ended the regular season with the worst statistics of his entire career since he became a starter in the league with his receiving numbers falling across nearly every metric.
The star tight end recorded fewer yards per game, yards per catch, and yards after catch, had a shorter average depth of target, and caught fewer touchdowns this season compared to any previous season.
We’ll have to see whether or not a Super Bowl title is enough to push him into retirement.
