After a tumultuous end to the 2025 NFL season, one of the biggest questions that lingered was the future of Kansas City Chiefs icon Travis Kelce. At 36, there was a lot of speculation about the legendary tight end announcing his retirement with the Chiefs. But now, with NFL free agency just two days away, Kelce has reportedly decided on his future in the NFL.

“Tight end Travis Kelce is expected to return to play for a 14th season this year, league sources say,” Dianna Russini and Jesse Newell reported via The Athletic on Sunday.

This development comes after a previous The Athletic report about Travis Kelce being “motivated to return for a 14th season,” according to Russini. While that earlier report indicated that the Kansas City Chiefs were in the running to re-sign their franchise icon, there has since been a major shift. Russini and Jesse Newell now report that Kelce’s representation is set to be involved in talks with multiple teams.

“The twist: It isn’t a sure thing that the team he plays for would be the Kansas City Chiefs. Kelce’s representatives are expected to talk to multiple teams,” Russini and Newell revealed in their latest report.

The idea also popped up on The Craig Carton Show, where host Carton floated the possibility that Kelce might want a fresh start. According to the host, the veteran tight end could be interested in playing one more season, just not necessarily with the Chiefs. The reasoning?

Kelce’s fiancée, global pop star Taylor Swift, spends much of her time in New York. A move to the Giants would put the couple in the same city during the season, making life a lot easier when the NFL schedule gets hectic. For now, it’s only talk. But the mere idea of Kelce in a Giants uniform has already sparked plenty of debate across the league.

Meanwhile, the update about Kelce, whose contract has ended, possibly eyeing a move on from the Chiefs, surfaces at an interesting time. Last week during the NFL Combine, Chiefs GM Brett Veach revealed the team was taking a “different approach” while being patient about Kelce’s future, as the star tight end will be an unrestricted free agent after March 11.

“We’ve kind of prepared for either scenario (retire or come back),” Veach said on February 24. “Coach (Andy Reid) mentioned on Friday he’d had great dialogue with Travis on our end. Myself, Chris Shea, Travis’ crew, we’ve had some good dialogue there, and I’m sure we’re going to see him here, along with all the other players’ agents. And we’ll continue that dialogue. Travis is the best. He’s an icon. Hopefully, he comes back, and we’ll just kind of let that process play out.”

After these comments, it became clear the Kansas City Chiefs were hopeful about retaining a franchise cornerstone in Travis Kelce, who blossomed into one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history. Since 2013, Kelce has recorded 13,002 yards and 82 touchdowns and helped lead Kansas City to three Super Bowl victories in 2020, 2023, and 2024.

But after turning 36 last October, Kelce saw a drop in his production after recording 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns. However, he remained one of the most productive tight ends in the league as he earned his 11th Pro Bowl selection. Hence, despite these low numbers, Kelce will still be in enormous demand in the open market.

The drop in production was arguably less about his physicality and more about a Kansas City offense that lacked a vertical threat. Statistically, Kelce is chasing ghosts. 

At 13,002 career yards, he is at a striking distance of Tony Gonzalez’s all-time record of 15,127. If he signs a one-year deal elsewhere, particularly with a team that possesses a great passing attack, reaching that 14,000-yard milestone becomes a mathematical probability. For teams like the Giants, if they target Kelce, they aren’t just bringing a pass-catcher but the NFL’s most effective tight end. In 2025, Kelce successfully converted 42% of his third-down targets into first downs, a metric that remains elite for somebody who is 36.

The opportunities around the NFL and the Chiefs facing a significant salary cap situation, which led to the Trent McDuffie trade to the LA Rams, could very much mark the end of the road for the free agent veteran tight end, but things could change anytime.

However, for the Chiefs, only trading their Pro Bowl corner hasn’t been enough, as they had to once again restructure QB1 Patrick Mahomes’ contract.

Despite Mahomes’ extension, Chiefs might still struggle to fit Travis Kelce 

To gain much-needed salary cap space for the 2026 season, the Kansas City Chiefs restructured Patrick Mahomes’ contract. The Chiefs’ front office has now, for the fourth year in a row, restructured the significant 10-year, $450 million deal that QB1 Mahomes inked in 2020.

As part of this restructuring, $54.45 million of Mahomes’ 2026 salary was converted to a signing bonus, bringing his cap number down to $34.65 million. With the McDuffie trade and Mahomes’ restructure, the Chiefs are clearly prioritizing financial flexibility to reload their roster after a disappointing 2025 season.

For Kelce, however, the ‘New York Connection’ holds a lot of significance. The move to a major media market like New York aligns perfectly with Kelce’s growing off-field empire. Between the New Heights podcast and his high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift, he has already outgrown the Kansas City market size.

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Moreover, if 2026 is truly his last dance, doing it under the bright lights of MetLife Stadium would make more sense. The Giants can afford to pay him. However, the current cap situation of the Chiefs doesn’t look promising. They are in survival mode.

Hence, re-signing an aging Travis Kelce, who is expected to sign a one-year, $10 million deal, as per The Athletic’s top free-agent list, wouldn’t make sense for the franchise. That move would, in turn, conclude an illustrious chapter in the team’s history. Still, Coach Reid can be unpredictable. With the new league year just two days away, there’s enough time for him to pull the strings. Kelce could be back in KC if some aggressive cap adjustments are executed.