Before the 2024 season, Kansas City Chiefs future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce signed a new contract extension with the team. The two-year deal made him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history, based on the annual value of of his contract — $17.125 million per season including signing and other bonuses, as well as his fully guaranteed salary.
Will Kelce keep playing after his current contract? In a potentially dramatic twist, he may have given an indication this week that he will continue playing — but with another team.
All-Time Great Tight End a Free Agent in 2026
Under his contract, the 2025 campaign would be Kelce’s final season in Kansas City. Once his contract expires — unless he signs another extension with the Chiefs between now and March 11, 2026 — Kelce will no longer be a Chief.
Instead, one of the top three greatest tight ends of all-time will become a free agent.
Of course, at age 36 after 13 punishing NFL seasons, Kelce may choose to retire — a step he was widely rumored to be taking after the Chiefs’ crushing Super Bowl defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year, an 18-point drubbing in which Kelce caught only four passes for 39 yards.
Or he could follow the example of another all-time great tight end and resume his career with another organization.
Fellow Tight End Legend Switched Teams to End Career
For Rob Gronkowski, the former New England Patriots great, that team was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kelce, as a free agent, would have a much easier time when it comes to switching teams than Gronkowski did in 2020. “Gronk” had to come out of a year of retirement, then hope that the Patriots — who still owned his contract — would trade him.
Which they did, sending Gronkowski to the Bucs, along with a seventh-round draft pick, in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
Photo Contains Possible Hint of Kelce’s 2026 Plans
Would Kelce move to another team to finish out his career? If that’s what he decides to do, Kelce may have dropped a hint of what that team would be. Would Kelce follow in Gronkowski’s footsteps and sign with Tampa Bay?
A photograph surfaced this week, according to a report by The Mirror U.S. newspaper, showing Kelce chilling out on a boat with the Buccaneers’ Pro Bowl quarterback, Baker Mayfield.
Under his three-year, $100 million contract, Mayfield is committed to Tampa Bay through the end of the 2026 season.
Kelce’s brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, also appears in the photo.
“Mayfield appears to share a particularly good friendship with the Kelce brothers,” wrote the Spanish-based sports site Marca.
In addition, Mayfield has experienced a longtime rivalry with Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs’ future Hall off Fame quarterback, who has thrown most of the passes caught by Travis Kelce since 2018. The rivalry dates back to Mayfield’s career at Oklahoma, facing off against Mahomes’ Texas Tech.
“At the Jones, you can probably hold 68,000, 70,000,” Mayfield recounted, as quoted by The Mirror, referring to the Texas Tech Jones AT&T Stadium. “I bet 45,000 of them were chanting ‘F you, Baker.'”
Kelce Could Join Team That Ran Over Chiefs in Super Bowl
When Gronkowski joined Tampa Bay, where his longtime Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had signed as a free agent, he immediately helped bring the Bucs to their second Super Bowl victory in franchise history. In that game, the Bucs rolled over Kelce, Mahomes and Kansas City 31-9. Kelce caught 10 passes for 133 yards, but did not score a touchdown.
If Kelce was considering attempting to end his career by recreating Gronkowski’s achievement, he just gave what could easily be interpreted as his intentions to do just that with the Mayfield boat photo.
