Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN football analyst Dan Orlovsky gives his thoughts on whether the Kansas City Chiefs will be a star Travis Kelce could retire sooner rather than later.
Kelce, 35, recently completed his 12th season in the league. He finished the regular season with 823 receiving yards, marking the second straight year the veteran tight end fell short of the 1,000-yard mark.
Although Kelce earned Pro Bowl honors for the tenth consecutive year and remains a productive player, he is certainly closer to the end of his football career than the beginning. All this comes as the chiefs achieve an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl championship. Should the Chiefs finally win the Vince Lombardi Trophy next month, Orlovsky believes opting out could become a “very real thing” for the seven-time All-Pro.
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Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs during media day at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa, Henderson. Date of painting: Wednesday, February 7, 2024. (PA Wire/PA Images via Getty Images)
“Kelce is fully capable of being a difference maker. I think he has another great streak left in him,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s long-running daytime program “First Take.”
TRAVIS KELCE SHARES TAYLOR SWIFT’S OPINION ON CHIEFS STAR’S POSSIBLE RETIREMENT
“I think if he goes and has that vintage Kelce performance, which I totally, one, think he’s capable of, and the other, he will, and they go on and three-peat, I think retirement will become a very real thing for Travis Kelce.
“There would be nothing else to accomplish. He would probably be the greatest tight end of all time. He would be a tight end that was a part of [Chiefs] the only three-peat in NFL history. It’s obviously later in his career. I don’t think there would be anything left. And I think he’s got one, elite, big, difference-making, vintage, ‘Oh my God, he’s done it again’ thing left.
Kelce has struggled with questions about when he will decide to end his NFL career. During a recent appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” admitted that his thoughts on retirement tend to fluctuate, but he plans to “reevaluate” things once he heads into the offseason.
Dan Orlovsky looks on prior to Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
“I love everything I do … but at the end of the day, I don’t have that much success on the field,” Kelce said. “I’m excited for the next few games … to finish this season. I’ll re-evaluate it as always, [and] I’ll probably tell myself how much I love this thing and come back next year.”
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) goes for a 48-yard field goal in the first half of an NFL playoff football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
The NFL veteran added that pop star Taylor Swift and continues to give her full support as far as his playing career is concerned. “She totally encourages me to enjoy playing this game,” Kelce told Smith.
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“I got all the support in the world to keep chasing these dreams,” the three-time Super Bowl winner said, before noting that the “Anti-Hero” singer “loves to come” to the games to watch him and the Chiefs play.
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