Jason Kelce has revealed he ‘felt a little hurt’ after brother Travis Kelce failed to ask for his advice on retirement.
The Kansas City Chiefs star this week put to bed weeks of rumors over his NFL future, confirming he is returning in 2025.
After initially texting Pat McAfee to read out his intention on his eponymous show, Travis followed up on the latest episode of his New Heights podcast, alongside his older brother.
“I have a bad taste in my mouth in how I ended the year and how well I was playing and how accountable I was for the people around me. I don’t want to leave that life yet,” Travis told Jason of his decision.
“I feel like there is a responsibility in me to play out the contract I initially signed to give Kansas City and the Chiefs organisation everything I’ve got, and that’s what I’m going to do.
“Even when it got tough last year on the body, or when it got tough after the Super Bowl – at your all time low – there’s something in a motivating factor, that I can do this.
“I pulled the trigger as soon as I had that feeling.”
Once Travis confirmed he is returning to the Chiefs, Jason revealed that the brothers ‘didn’t really talk pointedly’ about the situation and that he was never asked for his advice.
Jason himself retired in 2023, having played his whole career with the Philadelphia Eagles, and said he was ‘a little upset’ his brother didn’t come to him for some wisdom.
“I think you knew the whole time, even when I would talk to you,” he said.
“We didn’t really talk pointedly about this, you never asked my advice on this – but I asked your advice – so I feel a little hurt you didn’t ask.”
Travis, laughing off the suggestion, then replied: “You didn’t take my advice.”
“That’s fine, alright,” Jason continued.
“I felt like you always wanted to come back… I was like, alright, he’s going to play again, he’s not ready to stop.
“So, I think it’s the right decision.”
Travis, who will turn 36-years-old this year, has one season remaining on his two-year, $34million contract.
And while he will make $17m in what could be his final year with Kansas City, the tight end also revealed that he would probably make more than that off the field.
“Why are you going to go out there, risk injury, and make less money than you could make not playing football?” Jason asked.
“That was the one I had to juggle, right there,” Travis responded, laughing.
“I think the biggest thing is that I f***ing love playing the game of football.
“I love playing, I still feel like I can play it at a high level, and possibly at a higher level than I did last year.”
When he does eventually step away from football, Travis is expected to remain in the public eye.
He could follow brother Jason into the world of sports broadcasting, while he also has a number of other projects already lined up.
Travis is set to make a cameo in Adam Sandler’s upcoming movie, Happy Gilmore 2, and has recently earned an executive producer credit for his first film, My Dead Friend Zoe, which premiered last month.
It seems he has plenty on the back burner, but after confirming his decision to continue in the NFL, he won’t have to think more about his future until a later date.
Right now, he will be fully focused on trying to win one more Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2025.
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