Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is in the final year of his contract and showed signs during the 2024 season that he could be slowing down. He turns 36 years old in October, so some understandably have assumed that the 2025 campaign will be his last as an active player.
Kelce may have been given some extra bulletin-board material regarding the upcoming season ahead of the second weekend of July.
For a piece produced by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that was published on Friday, league executives, coaches and scouts surveyed by the network ranked Kelce as the league’s fifth-best tight end this summer. Second-year pro Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders (No. 1), George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers (No. 2), Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions (No. 3) and Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals (No. 4) were ahead of Kelce in the tight end power rankings.
“For sure [he showed] signs of physical decline, but you still have to worry about him because he’s such a smart player with a great connection with [quarterback Patrick Mahomes],” one unnamed veteran pro personnel evaluator said about Kelce while speaking with Fowler. “Just doesn’t get open like he used to.”
That’s a fair take considering Kelce finished last season with career lows (outside of when he appeared in just one game as a rookie during the 2013 campaign) of 823 receiving yards, an average of 8.5 yards per catch and three touchdown receptions. That said, he had a different role in the offense than originally planned because receivers Rashee Rice and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown missed significant time due to injury setbacks.
Former NFL general manager and current ESPN personality Mike Tannenbaum is among analysts who think the Chiefs could want Kelce to focus on “the quality of his participation and his impact” on games this coming fall. Such a plan could ensure that the three-time Super Bowl champion and future first-ballot Hall of Famer is at his best for must-win postseason matchups.
“He’s still awesome,” an NFC executive said about Kelce for the ESPN rankings. “It might not look as exotic as he used to, but you still look up and he’s got [nine receptions for 70 yards].”
Back in June, Kelce hinted he could continue playing beyond the 2025 season. Regardless of his long-term plans, he could feel he has a little something extra to prove to those who believe he is no longer an elite player at his position.
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