Travis Kelce plans comeback after Raiders beat Chiefs, with Mahomes factor

The 2024 season was speculated to be Travis Kelce’s last dance on the gridiron. But he played two more seasons. 2026 was speculated to be his “calling it quits” season, considering he’s starting his full-fledged family life. But he shocked everyone when he turned his one-year deal speculation into a three-year contract extension.

Travis Kelce told Brett Veach and Andy Reid that he’d come back after Las Vegas Raiders defeat

The Kansas City Chiefs played against the Las Vegas Raiders on January 5, 2026. It was the day when Travis Kelce told head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach that he would come back for another season. “I can’t comment on the future after this year. But I will say there was a lot of speculation mid-November, early December about Travis [Kelce] retiring. But we played our last game of the season in Vegas last year,” said Brett Veach on The Pat McAfee Show. “And when we got back, we had player meetings and exit interviews. And it was a cool deal where Trav came in, and he basically said, ‘I’m going to take a few weeks off here, but I’m not going out like this. And let’s stay in touch and let’s figure something out.’ And then, like 10 minutes later, Andy [Reid] called me. He’s like, ‘Hey, did you talk to Travis?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And Andy’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s coming back.’ So, we certainly knew ahead of time. And while there were still some questions in the air on whether or not he’d return. We knew basically the day after our last game that he made it known to Coach Reid and to me that there was no way he was going out like this.”

Travis Kelce wants to be there for Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a brutal knee injury in December 2025. A month later, Travis Kelce told Andy Reid and Brett Veach that he would like to return for the following season. GM Brett Veach revealed that Patrick Mahomes played a significant role in Travis Kelce returning for another dance. “There’s an element too of how close him and Pat [Patrick Mahomes] are that I think Travis [Kelce] wants to be there with Pat for this rehab deal,” Brett Veach said. “You go to training camp, those are long days, and we’re still one of the few teams that leaves, and we go away for about a month. There’s that certain element that Travis wants to make sure Pat sees this rehab all the way through, and they’re ready to go Week 1. Those two players have the utmost fire and intensity and winning and culture is so important to them. We knew right away that last season left a bad taste in their mouth, and they were certainly excited to get back on the field. If it is the last dance, hopefully we make it special, but Travis Kelce wasn’t going to go out with the season we had last year.” The Kansas City Chiefs went 6-11 in 2025. And they did not make it to the playoffs in over a decade.