Travis Kelce said he's "still in love with this game" as he announced his return to the Kansas City Chiefs on The Pat McAfee Show on March 10
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Kelce said it's "amazing to see" his fiancée Taylor Swift's passion and credited her for motivating him to continue playing
The tight end said he's "still got some juice to play this game"
Travis Kelceis fired up for another season with the Kansas City Chiefs!
The 36-year-old tight end confirmedhe's returning to the NFLon Tuesday, March 10 after months of speculation during an appearance onThe Pat McAfee Show.
"Let's go! Making another run at it, baby, and the Chiefs are making moves, Pat," Kelce told McAfee.
Kelce, who is also busy planning his upcoming wedding toTaylor Swift, said he needed to "take a step back" before deciding to return and credited Swift, 36, for motivating him.
"We share the same love for what we do, and we've had this...desire," said Kelce. "I'm still in love with this game," he added.
"I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game, you know, and I think my best opportunity was playing for the Chiefs yet again and running this thing back with Pat Mahomes and Coach Reid. And got my guy Eric Bieniemy, Coach Bieniemy back, and there's a lot of pieces in Kansas City that I just I absolutely love and I can't wait to get back in the building with," said Kelce.
The tight end said it's "amazing to see" his fiancée "keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies...and on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does."
"Yeah, of course that's motivating," he added of Swift. "That's motivating for anyone to see, let alone my fiancée, and knowing that I'm going through something where I'm trying to figure out what exactly the future holds for me, something like that definitely motivates me to say, 'You know what, I'm not done either.'"
Kelce said he's "still got some ideas in the back of my mind" and "still got some juice to play this game."
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Of the time he spent thinking about whether or not to return, Kelce said, "It was pretty short and brief, and the Chiefs knew where I was the entire time on it."
Kelce also referenced his fiancée's famous "Easter eggs" during the appearance and joked that he started "just placing those things all over the planet and everybody starts to catch on," ever since meeting Swift. He did, though, admita "slip-up" in January was an unintentional Easter eggalready had fans catching on to his plans to return for another season.
Buzz that Kelce would return to the NFL picked up on March 9 when ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that a source said the tight end — who won Super Bowl championships with the Chiefs in2020,2023and2024— inked a new deal with Kansas City worth at least $12 million and a maximum value of $15 million.
He reportedly made the decision before the beginning of the free agency period and informed the Chiefs organization of his intention to return on Monday, according to ESPN.
Sources also toldNFL Network's Ian Rapoportthat Kelce, whose contract with the Chiefs wasset to expire on Wednesday, March 11, turned down more financially lucrative offers from other NFL teams so he could stay with the Chiefs, where he's played the entirety of his career.
Patrick Mahomes, 30,celebratedhis superstar tight end's return on social media on Monday, sharing photos of himself and Kelce playing together with the "⏰🏹" emojis as the caption.
Kelce previously told fans on the Jan. 9 episode ofNew Heightsthat he'd return to the Chiefs"in a heartbeat" if his body could "heal up" and he had adequate time to "rest up" and "feel confident that I can go out there and give it another 18, 20, 21-week run."
He said he wanted to "just be a regular human for a couple weeks, maybe a month or so," while he figured out his decision.
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