Travis Kelce defies retirement talk as Chiefs’ 6-2 start silences his critics
Travis Kelce is 37, in his 14th season, and the Chiefs are 6-2. On Sunday, he scored a one-yard touchdown on a shovel toss from Patrick Mahomes that officials ruled a run. That made him the oldest tight end to score a rushing touchdown in NFL history. Kansas City beat the Jets 35-12 and ended a two-game skid. Through eight games, Kelce has 33 catches for 482 yards and three touchdowns, the team lead in receiving yards.
Retirement talk followed him all summer. Plenty of people wrote him off after last year's 6-11 season. The numbers disagree.Travis Kelce is getting more from every catchThe yardage is the real story. Kelce averages 14.6 yards a catch this season. Last year it was 11.2. He has fewer receptions on pace, about 70 over a full schedule compared with 76 in 2025, but the catches go farther.
At 482 yards through eight games, he is tracking toward roughly 1,020. That would be his best total since 2022, when he had 1,338.It hasn't been a straight line. He had nine catches for 101 yards and a score in Week 2, then two for 15 in Week 4. Even in the two losses before Sunday, he had 44 and 67 yards, so the skid was not about him.Sunday showed how much the offense still leans on him in tight spots.
A 17-yard third-down catch got one drive moving, and the Chiefs pulled away from there. Then came the goal-line call. On fourth-and-1 to open the second half, Mahomes shoveled the ball to Kelce, who got into the end zone. Officials ruled it a handoff, so it counted as a rushing score, only the third of his career. He broke Taysom Hill's age record by nearly two years, in his 200th game.Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes keep climbing the record listThe win also moved the pair past Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates for the most passing and receiving yards by a quarterback and tight end.
Mahomes and Kelce now sit at 9,360. Rivers and Gates held the old mark at 9,352. The margin is eight yards, about one short completion.The night had a scare in it, too. Mahomes took a hard shot to his throwing arm from Jets defender David Bailey in the second quarter and walked to the sideline in visible discomfort. He came back and finished with 242 passing yards and two touchdowns, both to Kenneth Walker III.
“Just a fearless leader,” Kelce said of him afterward.A week earlier, after the second straight loss, Kelce had been fighting back tears. Sunday looked different. The offense around him has shifted, too. Walker has 872 rushing yards and Mahomes has 2,037 passing, so Kelce does not have to carry every drive.Atlanta is next, a road game on Sunday. Kelce needs 518 yards across the final nine games to reach 1,000, about 58 a game.
He is averaging 60.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.
