The closest thing to royalty in the United States may be the power couple of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and the pair announced their engagement after two full years of dating. Swift is undoubtedly the top pop music star in the world and Kelce has put together a brilliant career as a record-setting NFL tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kelce is preparing for his 13th NFL season — all with the Chiefs — and there has been plenty of speculation that this could be the 35-year-old's final season as a player. Kelce has not announced that this will be retiring after this year, but that will be the question that he will likely be asked about every time he puts on his uniform.
The announcement that he is marrying his beloved Taylor does not mean he is immediately going to leave the game. He is a motivated player after the Chiefs lost last season's Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles. He has put quite a bit of the blame on himself because he does not feel his overall effort was good enough in the 40-22 defeat.
He caught just four passes in the loss to the Eagles, used the word “failed” to describe his performance.
“I failed, especially in that last game, in being a leader and being the one that can step up and make plays,” Kelce said, per ESPN. “I'm just setting the bar even higher for myself this year than I have in the past.”
Chiefs hoping for bounce-back season on offense
The Chiefs have remained at or near the top of the football world for multiple seasons. Kansas City has won three Super Bowl titles with the trio of Andy Reid as head coach, Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and Kelce at tight end. They have also played in the AFC title game for seven consecutive seasons.
In the early years of the Reid-Mahomes-Kelce partnerships, the Chiefs had a dominant offense that regularly lit up the scoreboard. However, the last two seasons, the offense has slipped quite a bit and the defense has led the way.
The loss to the Eagles has spurred Mahomes and Kelce to turn things around on offense and drive the Chiefs to a higher level in 2025. The Chiefs open the season against the Los Angeles Chargers in a Week 1 game in Sao Paulo, Brazil and that will be the first chance to see if the offense is ready to perform at an elite level once again.
Kelce has his mind on the business of winning as well as on his beautiful and talented fiancé. It appears that he will leave the NFL after this season, but it is still clearly up to Kelce to decide when it's time to retire from professional football.
