Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Chiefs GM Sparks Doubt About Travis Kelce’s Future With Latest Remarks

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael Gallagher | Last updated Jul 10, 2025 4:11 PM ET

Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX back in February, many believed star tight end Travis Kelce had played his final NFL game.

After all, the 35-year-old pass-catcher has accomplished about all there is for a TE.

He’s won three Super Bowls, earned four first-team All-Pro and three second-team All-Pro honors, made 10 Pro Bowls, he’s a member of the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, and he ranks third all-time in receptions (1,004) and receiving yards (12,151) among TEs in NFL history.

But Kelce decided a few weeks after the Super Bowl he didn’t want to go out with a Super Bowl loss as his final memory.

“I don’t think [the Super Bowl] was my best outing,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast in March. “…I want to give it a good run. I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth on how I ended the year and how well I was playing and how accountable I was to the people around me. … I don’t want to leave that life yet.”

And while Kelce is fully committed to putting forth a better performance in 2025 than he did last year—he had a career-low 823 yards receiving and three touchdowns—there’s still some who are skeptical he’s the same player he once was, including general manager Brett Veach.

Speaking to ESPN recently, Veach admitted that he’s not sure if Kelce has more than another season left in him.

“We've all seen it over the last few years,” Veach told ESPN. “There are periods throughout the season where you're like, ‘This might be it.’ But when the games are the most important and the lights are the brightest, he finds it somewhere.

“The great ones know how to find it. They know where it's buried, and they know how to access it. And they can't access it at that age week in and week out, but when they need it, they know how to find it.”

Veach’s comments seem to paint a picture of an executive who’s hesitant to expect too much from one of his star players given how Kelce’s production fell off drastically last season.

And this isn’t the first time Veach has made some ominous comments about Kelce this offseason.

Back in May, Veach told the Kansas City Star that while Kelce will still be a featured part of KC’s offense, fans should taper their expectations.

“You’ll see Travis have more of an impact,” Veach said. “Maybe it’s not in production, but it’s the offense (overall), which is much different (than) in the past when it always kind of ran through Kelce.”

“… The numbers won’t be the same. I mean, you have to acknowledge a certain aspect of that, right? I don’t know if I look at it in terms of, like, expectations for yardage or touchdowns or catches. I think that when he’s on the field now, he makes us better. And I think that he’s also a guy that makes the people around him better.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: