By JACK BEZANTS, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR
Published: 16:49 EST, 19 February 2026 | Updated: 16:50 EST, 19 February 2026
Travis Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs teammate Chris Jones has told an NFL analyst to 'shut up' after suggesting the team should move on from the legendary tight end.
Kelce, 36, is currently out of contract and had previously hinted that he could retire from football after the end of the 2025 season. Now, however, the feeling is that he will play on but official confirmation hasn't yet been made.
It prompted former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum to say on ESPN show 'SportsCenter' that the Chiefs would be best served by moving on from Kelce, whether he wants to play on or not.
'I would move on from Travis Kelce and let me tell you why,' Tannenbaum said. 'When you're in the front office, you have to project what a player is going to do.
'Not what they've done. I've made that mistake countless times in my career. And Travis Kelce is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but when you watch him and make an honest and sober evaluation of his 2025 performance, clearly, his best days are behind him.
'We talk about their lack of explosive plays, if I was Kansas City, I would make the right, albeit difficult, decision to move on from Travis Kelce to try to get younger, faster and more explosive at the tight end position.'
Travis Kelce will need to sign a new Kansas City Chiefs deal if he is to keep on playing
Teammate Chris Jones was unimpressed with talk that the Chiefs would be better without him
As the clip made waves on social media, it caught the attention of defensive tackle Jones. He made his feelings very clear.
'Shut up,' Jones wrote, retweeting the clip with a 'shushing' emoji.
The Chiefs have already said that if Kelce wants to return to football, he will be welcome to keep on playing with Kansas City.
But he would have to agree to new terms and the exact cost of that will be important to the organization in terms of falling under the salary cap. Kelce's last deal was worth around $17million per season.
On Wednesday, quarterback Patrick Mahomes agreed to restructure his contract, saving the team $43.65m against whatever the cap ends up being for 2026 - it is expected to tip $300m for the first time.
Jones is also expected to restructure his deal to help the team save money for 2026 and reallocate resources to rebuilding the roster.
The Chiefs failed to make the playoffs last season, with Mahomes tearing his ACL in a game against the Los Angeles Chargers in December.
One minor benefit of a 6-11 campaign is that the Chiefs have the ninth pick in the NFL Draft at the end of April.