Travis Kelce is taking a proper break from football, though just for how long has yet to be publicly determined.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end ended the last year of his contract with the team with a disappointing loss against the Las Vegas Raiders January 4, after a less than stellar season for the Chiefs overall.
The veteran football star has been marred with rumors and questions of retirement since, and though he has yet to speak out, his latest move might hint at it.
Over the weekend, it was confirmed that Travis wouldn't be participating in this year's 2026 Pro Bowl Games, which Travis pulled out of after being selected for the eleventh time in his career.
Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid has been named as his replacement, marking his first Pro Bowl appearance.
Per Chiefs Wire, player selections for the Pro Bowl Games were determined by the consensus votes of fans, players, and coaches, with each group's vote counting as one-third toward selecting the all-star players, and moreover Travis, for the second consecutive year, had the most fan votes.
The televised event will air live from San Francisco's Moscone Center South Building on Tuesday, February 3 at 8pm EST.
News of Travis, who will be 37 later this year, opting out of the Pro Bowl Games come amid reports that he has yet to decide whether he will be retiring or not, amid his ongoing wedding planning with fiancée Taylor Swift, to whom he got engaged in August after two years of dating.
He has always for the most part brushed off questions about his retirement. Back in June 2024, after signing his new contract, he said ahead of a minicamp session that he wouldn't be retiring "anytime soon" and that he would be playing football "until the wheels fall off."
December 2024 was one of the first and few times he loosely broached the topic of retirement, when he spoke with his brother Jason Kelce, who retired in 2024, about a game he played in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, against the Browns. "It felt so surreal. I don't know if it's the last time I'll ever play in Cleveland, but it kinda felt like I was just giving it one last hurrah before I'm done because I've only played there twice in 12 years."
However, just a few days before the Super Bowl last year, asked during a presser what he thinks he'll be doing in three years, it didn't sound like retirement was in his plans. "Hopefully still playing football. 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," he maintained.
His teammate Patrick Mahomes has also weighed in on Travis' retirement, though vaguely. Just after their Super Bowl 2025 loss, asked if Travis would be coming back next season (which he did), he said he would "let Travis make that decision on his own," and noted: "He's given so much to this team and to the NFL, and been such a joy not only for me to work with but [for] people to watch."