![\"Chiefs](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Brett-Veach6-e1737420216554.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780\")
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Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce has popped up on a few sites as a potential cap casualty in 2025.<\/p>\n
Now, anyone that knows anything about the Chiefs knows that they would never cut Kelce, no matter how much cap space they could save in doing so. Just to be clear, that is not happening under any circumstance.<\/p>\n
Having said that, Bleacher Report writer Alex Ballentine made a good point about Kelce\u2019s contract on January 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cCutting Travis Kelce is obviously a long shot,\u201d Ballentine first acknowledged. \u201cHe might be 35 years old with waning production, but he\u2019s still one of the best tight ends in the league [and] his chemistry with\u00a0Patrick Mahomes\u00a0has been the driving force behind the Chiefs\u2019 passing game for years now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n With that in mind, Ballentine noted that the Chiefs \u201cwould be able to create $17.3 million in cap space by releasing Kelce,\u201d but quickly added that \u201cthis is much more likely to come into play if Kelce decides to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe star tight end has wavered on his retirement stance in media appearances,\u201d the Bleacher Report analyst went on. \u201cIf he decides to walk away, the Chiefs have structured his contract in a way that\u2019s going to help them with their cap space.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n That last part is important. The\u00a0NFL\u00a0cap rules can be very tricky to keep up with, but\u00a0SB Nation\u2019s Mike Frazer once explained\u00a0that \u201cthe [retirement] math looks pretty much the same as if the player had been cut.\u201d<\/p>\n That means \u2014 as Ballentine alluded \u2014 that if the worst-case scenario does occur and Kelce decides to call it quits in 2025, the Chiefs have at least set themselves up with $17.3 million in cap relief. A small silver lining for the loss of a legend.<\/p>\n If the Chiefs were to win their third straight Super Bowl title this winter, it\u2019d be fair to wonder if Kelce would elect to go out on top.<\/p>\n While speaking\u00a0with \u201cThe Stephen A. Smith Show\u201d on January 15, he admitted that his opinion about retiring \u201cchanges every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love everything that I\u2019m doing in this building but at the end of the day, I\u2019m not having that extreme success on the field as I have individually,\u201d Kelce explained. \u201cI\u2019m excited for these next couple [of playoff] games, to play up at Arrowhead, to finish this season off. I\u2019ll reevaluate it like I always do, and I\u2019ll probably tell myself how much I love this thing, and I\u2019ll come back next year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that you have to keep in perspective, man,\u201d the future Hall of Famer continued. \u201cI never want to get to the point where I\u2019m not helping this team win or I\u2019m hurting this team more than I\u2019m helping this team. As long as I\u2019m coming out here, playing good football and enjoying coming into the building every day with my guys, you\u2019ll see me in a Chiefs uniform for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelce has one year left on his most recent contract, which could also set the stage for a 2026 retirement. If he wants to keep playing beyond that, Kansas City would have to work out another short-term extension.<\/p>\n Kelce has plenty of reasons to retire \u2014 whether it\u2019s his blossoming\u00a0relationship with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, his newfound acting career, his successful podcast or simply his body and overall health.<\/p>\n On the flip side, outside of his love for the game, the main reason not to retire would be his pursuit of ex-Chiefs legend Tony Gonzalez for\u00a0most receiving yards as a tight end\u00a0in NFL history.<\/p>\n Kelce already passed Gonzalez for the honor of\u00a0Chiefs\u2019 all-time receiving yards leader, but he currently sits third in the ranks for the position overall. Kelce has 12,151 receiving yards, while Jason Witten accumulated 13,046 and Gonzalez amassed 15,127.<\/p>\n To be blunt, there\u2019s simply no way Kelce catches Gonzalez by the end of 2025 or even 2026. So, if that\u2019s an important goal of his, he\u2019d likely have to keep playing well into his late-30s in order to reach the magic number 15,128.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce has popped up on a few sites as a potential cap casualty in 2025. Now, anyone that knows anything… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nTravis Kelce Admits Retirement Decision \u2018Changes Every Single Day\u2019<\/h2>\n
Travis Kelce Passed Tony Gonzalez as Chiefs\u2019 All-Time Receiving Leader but Is Unlikely to Catch Him as Top NFL Tight End Anytime Soon<\/h2>\n