Travis Kelce: Taylor Swift is not encouraging me to retire from football

The Kansas City Chiefs play the Houston Texans on Saturday, the start of the Playoffs. Travis Kelce said a few days ago that Taylor Swift would attend the game, which is notable because she’s now skipped a few games. By my records, the last game she attended was on December 21 (when the Chiefs also played the Texans). Taylor seems to enjoy having a football-player boyfriend, and she’s pretty comfortable attending all of the Chiefs’ home games at Arrowhead. Travis told Stephen A. Smith this week that Taylor isn’t even encouraging him to retire after this season.

Taylor Swift is not getting in the way of Travis Kelce’s desire to keep playing football. During a stop on The Stephen A. Smith Show on Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 35, was asked if Swift, also 35, was “encouraging” him to retire since football is a violent sport.

“She’s fully encouraging me to enjoy playing this game,” Kelce told host Stephen A. Smith. “She loves coming to Arrowhead [Stadium] and coming to the games and cheering for me, so I got all the support in the world to keep chasing these dreams.”

Earlier in his interview with Smith, 57, Kelce said he was not thinking about retirement at the moment. Instead, he is thinking about the playoffs, which start for the Chiefs on Saturday, Jan. 18, against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I love everything that I’m doing in this building,” Kelce said. “But at the end of the day, I’m not having that extreme success on the field as I have individually, man. I’m excited for these next couple games to play up at Arrowhead, to finish this season off.”

Kelce said he would “reevaluate” his career as he “always” does.

“And I’ll probably tell myself how much I love this thing,” he continued. “It’s something you have to keep in perspective, man. I never want to get to the point where I’m not helping this team win or I’m hurting this team more than I’m helping this team. As long as I’m coming out here playing good football and enjoying coming into the building every day with my guys, you’ll see me in a Chiefs uniform.”

The Chiefs are hoping to become the first NFL team in history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. The team has already won three since 2019.

[From People]

My guess is that his feelings on retirement will depend a lot on whether the Chiefs make the Super Bowl and, if that happens, whether they win another ring. If they make it to the Super Bowl, it will be really difficult for Travis to retire, because what will he tell himself? He didn’t have the best season and yet he made it to the biggest game. Anyway, I’m sure Taylor is encouraging him to do whatever he wants and follow his dreams. But she’s also helping him prepare for his post-football career in a way – their relationship has eased his path to a major career outside of football, as a host/actor/producer and whatever else he wants to do.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.