Travis Kelce gets a reality check from Mike Florio
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce decided he’s not ready for retirement just yet, but one NFL insider doesn’t want him getting his hopes up either.
Even before the 2024 season began, there was chatter that it may be Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s last in the NFL. As the Chiefs were seeking a never-before-achieved three-peat in the Super Bowl, it seemed like whether or not they won the championship could determine if Kelce called it quits.
In the end, they didn’t win, and Kelce didn’t call it quits. He said he was disappointed in how he played during the season and didn’t want to go out on a low note after a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
This shot of Travis Kelce says it all pic.twitter.com/ysxwxKAz9k
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) February 10, 2025
In that case, he’d have been better off quitting after the 2023 season when the Chiefs were back-to-back champions and Kelce had an impressive season. It’s hard to go up from there. And one NFL insider had a warning for Kelce.
Mike Florio’s warning to Travis Kelce
Kelce’s 2024 season, in comparison to 2023, was a pretty steep decline, which is the main reason he wants to come back. He believes he still has some good football in him, and he feels he owes it to his teammates to come back stronger next year.
“I still feel like I can play at a high level and possibly at a higher level than I did last year,” Kelce said. “I don’t think it was my best outing, you know? I think I let my guys down in a lot more moments than I helped them, especially if you look at my track record and how I’ve been in years past. You know, I want to give it a good run. I got a bad taste in my mouth about how I ended the year and how well I was playing, and how accountable I was for the people around me.”
NFL insider Mike Florio thought he should let Kelce know that it’s a very real possibility that he will still go out on a low note. Or at least a lower note than he’d like, as the odds of making it to the Super Bowl again and winning it are slim.
“You can’t engineer your exit,” Florio said. “There’s a chance that next year’s exit is going to be worse, not better. Not many guys get to say I went out with a Super Bowl game.”
“There’s a good chance that Travis Kelce is going to exit after this year with something far less than a Super Bowl loss,” Florio said.
“I hope he doesn’t come back thinking ‘Alright, we’ll just go back to the Super Bowl and win it next year,’” Florio said. “No one is guaranteed the storybook finish, because it rarely happens. Even Tom Brady.”
Tom Brady retired and un-retired for the same reason. Despite all his success, he didn’t want to go out on a low note. In the end, he went out on the lowest note with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. Imagine that was your last game in the NFL. No one is going to remember that of Brady’s career. But he will.
Florio has a good point. Players don’t typically get better with age, and the odds of winning another Super Bowl are low. But Kelce’s mind is made up, so we’ll see if he can at least play to a level he’s proud of and have one more good season with his teammates before hanging up his cleats for good.
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