Travis Kelce has no plans to retire anytime soon even if the Kansas City Chiefs win a third straight Super Bowl on Sunday.
The future plans for the 35-year-old Kelce have been a lingering question as his fame has risen off the field thanks to his relationship with Taylor Swift and a lucrative podcasting career.
Kelce was asked at the Super Bowl’s opening night festivities on Monday where he plans to be in three years. “Hopefully still playing football,” he said. “I love doing this, I love coming into work every day. I feel like I still have a lot of good football left in me. We’ll see what happens. I know I’ve been setting myself up for other opportunities in my life. That’s always been the goal knowing football only lasts for so long. You have to find a way to get into another career and another profession. I’ve been doing that in my offseason. But for the most part, I plan on being a Kansas City Chief and playing football.”
Kelce is still playing at a high level even if he has fallen off from his peak. He had 97 catches this season but only gained 823 yards and scored three TDs, his lowest totals since his rookie campaign in 2013. Kelce had a throwback game in the divisional round win over Houston with seven catches for 117 yards and enters the Super Bowl with the most catches ever in the playoffs (174) and second to Hall of Famer Jerry Rice in yards receiving (2,039) and TD catches (20).
Kelce was one of the most popular players with the media during opening night with a large group of reporters surrounding his podium, peppering him with questions on topics from football to whether he planned to give Swift a ring if the Chiefs win on Sunday. He quickly responded, “A Super Bowl ring? Next question.”
Kelce did say his relationship with Swift helps him on the football field by providing motivation that he needs to work as hard as she does to remain at the top of his game.
“I better hold up my end of the bargain,” he said. “If she’s out here being the superstar she is, never taking no for an answer, and always working her tail off, I better match that energy for sure.”
Another Chiefs player receiving plenty of attention on Monday night was kicker Harrison Butker, who last year generated headlines and drew criticism for his stance against Pride month and abortion. But he said he doesn’t feel the need to apologize for anything, although he did swerve some questions.
At one point he was asked: “What do you think about gays?” He replied: “I understand that this is a great evening and we’re here to focus on the game. Maybe if I saw [the person who asked the question] without a camera, we’d have a great conversation.”
Last May, Butker was asked to deliver a commencement address at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school. Among his polarizing remarks, Butker said that most of the women receiving degrees that day were probably more excited about getting married and having children than entering the workforce, and that some Catholic leaders were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.”
Butker also assailed Pride month and attacked Joe Biden’s stance on abortion, forcing the NFL to distance itself from the comments. As the summer gave way to election season, Butker was again in the spotlight as he launched a political action committee designed to encourage Christians to vote for “traditional values”. Butker also spent time in July campaigning for Republican senator Josh Hawley, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump.
“It was a surprise because I’d been saying similar things to that for many years now and it’s funny what stuff gets picked up,” Butker said on Monday of the attention he has received for his views. “I said what I said. I believe in it. I don’t feel the need to apologize for anything. I feel like God’s prepared me for that moment to feel confident in who I am and what’s most important in my life and I’m able to handle whatever comes my way.”
