Chiefs Travis Kelce's impending retirement could be very short thanks to new NFL rule

The Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was followed by questions about Travis Kelce's future. He decided to return for 2026, but retirement is on the horizon.

Next season will be Kelce's 13th season in the NFL. He is a 10-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro. He has won three Super Bowls and will surely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The last two seasons, however, he has started to show signs of decline. He has not eclipsed 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons now, after reaching the mark for seven consecutive seasons going into 2023.

The fact that he was contemplating retirement, paired with the fact that his contract expires after this season, makes it very likely that he will retire by the time the 2028 Summer Olympics, where the NFL recently deemed NFL Players eligible to compete. The rules for the 2028 Summer Olympics set by the NFL allow one player from each team to compete, excluding each team's one designated international player.

The Chiefs will have plenty of players being considered, starting with Patrick Mahomes. However, if Kelce is retired, he would not count against the Chiefs' one-player maximum. Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon suggested Kelce could come out of his impending retirement to play in the Olympics.

"Considering that Kelce is an absolute legend on and off the field, he’d be a no-brainer in the early stages of retirement if he were to walk away in the next three years," wrote Gagnon. "The 10-time Pro Bowler still caught 97 passes for 823 yards in 2024, but retirement rumors have already begun to swirl. The only question is if he can stay in decent enough shape until the summer of ‘28."

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Kelce is likely to retire having only played for the Chiefs. If he is going to unretire at any point, it will seemingly not be to play for another NFL team. However, unretiring to represent the United States would not threaten his legacy with the Chiefs as one of the best players in the franchise's storied history.

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