According to Ian Rapoport, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is expected to return to Kansas City for another season in 2026.
Rapoport says Kelce’s camp has communicated to interested teams that he plans to remain in Kansas City. He’s on an expiring contract and will technically be a free agent in half an hour.
Despite the speculation that last year was Kelce’s last, there had been mounting buzz over the past few months that he wasn’t ready to leave things off on the sour note that was the 2025 season for the Chiefs.
Whenever Kelce decides to end his playing career, he has a ton waiting for him off the field, including a budding media career and pending nuptials to pop superstar Taylor Swift.
Kelce, 36, is a former third-round pick of the Chiefs out of Cincinnati back in 2013. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $3.126 million rookie contract and set to make a base salary of $675,000 for the 2016 season when he signed a six-year, $46.8 million contract extension.
He signed another four-year, $57.25 million extension in 2020. Kelce was due base salaries of $12 million and $16.25 million over the final two seasons of that deal.
In 2025, Kelce appeared in all 17 games for the Chiefs and recorded 76 receptions on 108 targets for 851 yards and five touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 100 2026 NFL Free Agents list.
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