Star tight end Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs are set to open the NFL Playoffs at home Saturday night against the Miami Dolphins.
The backdrop here includes a frustrating end of the regular season for Kelce and the defending champs. There have also been rumors floating about that the 34-year-old future Hall of Famer might retire.
He pretty much laughed them off on Thursday in talking with reporters.
“I have no reason to stop playing football, man,” Kelce said. “I love it. We still have success. Come in with the right mindset, and I just love the challenge it gives me every single day to try and be at my best. Like I said, I have no desire to stop anytime soon.”
Kelce is still going pretty strong for the Chiefs. Though, he struggled to the tune of 88 receiving yards over the final three games of the regular season. It led to his first season without 1,000 receiving yards since all the way back in 2015.
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Travis Kelce stats (2023): 93 receptions, 984 yards, 5 TD
Despite these recent struggles, this has to be music to the ears of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. They have struggled in the passing game with an unproven crop of wide receivers dropping a ton of balls.
This led to Kansas City finishing the regular season ranked 15th in the NFL in scoring at 21.8 points per game. During the team’s Super Bowl run last season, it ranked No. 1 in the league (29.2 PPG).
As for Kelce, he has recently displayed a ton of frustration over these struggles.
“It’s not just one guy,” Kelce said back in late December. “It’s not just me playing like dog s**t. It’s not just us not being able to get the run game going. It’s not just us not being on the same page, passing-wise. Everybody’s in this f***ing thing together. Everybody at some point isn’t being accountable.”
The Chiefs will get that opportunity at home Saturday night against a struggling Miami Dolphins squad.