Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce explain why the Philadelphia Eagles star's retirement was only just made official by the NFL this week.
When it comes to the inevitable end of his career in the NFL, Travis Kelce is not looking to follow in his brother's footsteps. The Kansas City Chiefs star made a joke about "never" retiring on Wednesday's episode of his New Heights podcast, as brother Jason Kelce's own retirement from the Philadelphia Eagles was made official.
In what Jason is calling "bureaucracy at its finest," the celebrated athlete was forced to formally share his intent to retire in an email and was placed on the organization's official "Reserved/Retired List" on June 2. This comes nearly three months after Jason publicly announced the end of his football career in a touching and tearful press conference inside the Eagles' NovaCare Complex as Travis emotionally looked on from the audience.
Jason, 36, wondered on Wednesday with a laugh, "Is the whole video of me crying for 45 minutes not enough?"
Jason then admitted, "I'm still getting used to it. It feels weird not going into the building and just the little conversations you have."
Directing his attention to his younger brother, he added, "You'll realize it, Trav, once it's gone."
Without missing a beat, Travis, 34, responded, "I'm never doing it. Not after that speech, dude. No, f**k that. I don't want to go through that."
Immediately following Jason's heart-tugging remarks in March, the siblings broke down in tears again as they rehashed Jason's decision on their podcast. At the time, Travis expressed his lifelong admiration for his older brother.
"You've always been a step ahead of me," Travis said.
Jason shrugged off the remark, saying simply, "I'm older, Trav."
Travis then assured his brother that he looks up to him in more ways than just age.
"Yeah, but in this game alone, you've always been a step ahead of me and it's always been like I've had that flotation device right there," he explained, becoming choked up.
"To have you out of it, man, it feels empty," Travis continued through tears. "It feels like, it's um, it's complete. It was a success."
The waterworks prompted Jason to also begin breaking down.
"It was a fun ass journey to watch," Travis managed to add. After a pause, he continued, "Like I said yesterday, man, I just appreciate you showing me the way and bringing us all along the journey with ya, big guy."
For the season ahead, Jason has signed on to serve as a sportscaster for ESPN's Monday Night Football. His first assignment will be in San Francisco this fall when the 49ers face off against the New York Jets.
Meanwhile, Travis recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs. The $34.25 million deal -- which includes $17 million fully guaranteed this year -- makes Kelce the highest-paid tight end in the league.
"This is just following in your footsteps again," he said on the podcast last month. "You were the highest-paid center."
Jason humbly replied, "That's what they say, I don't know if it's true or not."
Saying he has loved "every single second" of his last 12 years in Kansas City, Travis added, "I'm gonna love the next two years playing here in Kansas City and we'll see what happens after that."
Amid his current offseason, the three-time Super Bowl champion has been busy with a full slate of side hustles, including hosting Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? and testing his acting chops in Ryan Murphy's Grotesquerie. He's also thrown his hat in the ring for consideration as Adam Sandler firms up plans for Netflix's upcoming Happy Gilmore 2 -- though no formal casting has been announced.
As part of his budding Hollywood career, Travis also recently produced the movie My Dead Friend Zoe -- starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman -- and previously took a turn hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023.
"That's the point of the offseason," Travis explained during a January press conference. "Being able to get out there and really find what you love to do and I've been fortunate to do a few things outside of the sports world that I've been enjoying doing, like getting on camera."
He continued, "The SNL stuff kinda opened up a new happiness and maybe a new career path for me, but it's funny for me to even say that at this point in my career because it's so much further down the road than it is right now."
Beyond his skills on the field, Travis also made headlines last season amid his romance with Taylor Swift. The pop star first attended one of his games in September, and quickly became a fixture among Chiefs fans. When she wasn't busy on her Eras tour, Taylor was often by Travis' side all the way up to Super Bowl LVIII.
For his part, Jason has said that he hopes to spend more time with his wife of six years, Kylie Kelce, and their young children in his retirement. The couple shares three daughters: Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 1.
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