Chiefs Expected To Re-Sign Travis Kelce

Set to return for a 14th season, Kelce is indeed expected to do so with the Chiefs, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. While no deal is official yet, teams interested in potentially poaching the superstar tight end may need to stand down.

Sunday’s report indicated Kelce was likely to speak with other teams as a free agent. Kelce, 36, had played out his contract — one agreed to in 2020 and modified to include a raise in 2024 — and joined his brother as a late-career free agent. Jason Kelce finished his career on multiple Eagles one-year contracts. The other future Hall of Fame Kelce may be in line for a one-year Chiefs accord. SI.com’s Albert Breer tweets a one-year pact is expected.

Kelce is one of the greatest players in Chiefs history, being a cornerstone piece of five Super Bowl teams and three champions. The Chiefs landed Kelce in the 2013 third round, and after he missed most of his rookie season due to microfracture knee surgery, the Cincinnati alum showed star potential alongside Alex Smith. The Kelce-Tyreek Hill tandem hit another gear when Patrick Mahomes took over in 2018, and Kelce smashed the NFL record for most 1,000-yard receiving seasons by a tight end. Kelce’s seven, a streak started with Smith at the helm, are three more than any other tight end.

Rumors about a Kelce retirement swirled after a Chiefs 6-11 season. The franchise’s worst record in Kelce’s tenure did not move the gregarious tight end/world-famous fiancé to walk away. Despite some untimely drops last season, Kelce improved on his 2024 step backward by totaling 76 receptions for 851 yards and five touchdowns. Although Mahomes did not play in the Chiefs’ final three games due to ACL and LCL tears, Kelce upped his yards-per-catch average to 11.2 — his first mark past 11 since a first-team All-Pro 2022 season.

The Chiefs had extended Kelce in 2016 and then in 2020. The 2020 deal briefly stood as the game’s top TE contract, before George Kittle‘s first 49ers re-up, and Kelce certainly has not been paid in accordance with the value he has provided the Chiefs. Kansas City did give him a $4MM raise after Super Bowl LVIII, making him the game’s highest-paid tight end once again. Kelce not maximizing his value has helped the Chiefs, though it has also played a role in no tight end being tied to a $20MM-per-year deal — as the wideout market is now past $40MM AAV.

Kelce was the lead factor in the Chiefs overcoming a shaky post-Hill receiving situation en route to 2022 and 2023 Super Bowl wins, and he helped Mahomes and Co. to the threepeat precipice — as the first two-time champ to reach a Super Bowl the following season — though did not play especially well against the Eagles. Vowing not to end his career after that blowout loss, Kelce looks set to make a similar pledge after the Chiefs endured a Super Bowl LIX hangover. While the Chiefs’ 2026 roster will look different, their core three performers — Mahomes, Kelce and Chris Jones — are prepared for at least one more year together.

Kelce’s return stands to help a Chiefs team that has still run into trouble staffing its receiver posts. While Xavier Worthy‘s rookie contract runs through 2027, Rashee Rice has battled injuries and a suspension. And an ugly accusation of domestic violence by his ex-girlfriend could put the talented wideout in the NFL’s crosshairs once again. The Chiefs, who also have Marquise Brown unsigned for 2026, are at least poised to have Kelce anchoring at least one more Mahomes-piloted pass attack.