Travis Kelce is ‘out’ as the Chiefs enjoy ‘positive’ talks with his potential replacement

The tight end’s future is up in the air

Lapresse

Reportedly, Travis Kelce is leaning toward returning to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 13th (and perhaps final) NFL season. But the Chiefs may be leaning toward another direction for 2025.

Kelce’s poor performance in a losing effort during Super Bowl LIX has ignited another debate over the 35-year-old’s future with the only NFL team for which he has played. Kelce, a future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, is one of the greatest tight ends in the sport’s history — but he posted some of the worst statistics of his decorated career in 2024, and the Chiefs are facing salary cap constraints that could convince the franchise to seek a younger, fresher replacement…in so much as a figure as iconic as Kelce can be replaced in Kansas City.

Chiefs talk with Kole Taylor

The Chiefs have become renowned for their ability to find “steals” outside of the first round of the NFL Draft; Kelce himself was an unheralded third-round pick out of the University of Cincinnati in 2013. Kansas City may already know that it has to dip back into that well to find Kelce’s replacement, who very well could be West Virginia tight end Kole Taylor.

Taylor, a transfer to West Virigina from LSU, met with the Chiefs recently after he ended his senior season with 43 catches for 448 yards and three touchdowns. He was used primarily as a blocker at LSU, and his development as a pass-catcher at WVU proved that he is a multi-faceted threat who could fare well as competiton for Noah Gray in the Chiefs’ 2025 offense.

However, everything hinges on Kelce, and what he decides to do. The Chiefs have given their legendary tight end a soft deadline of March 14 to talk things over with his partner, the pop superstar Taylor Swift, and choose whether to pursue a fourth Super Bowl title or walk away from the game.