In the aftermath of the Kansas City Chiefs' 2025 season, a lot of ink was spilled questioning whether future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce would return for a 14th season. Brett Veach could have saved the world some toner.
In an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio on Wednesday, the Chiefs GM said he knew immediately after the season that Kelce wasn't going to retire.
"When you're going through the season that we had, certainly like mid-November, early December, there was probably some question in my mind," Veach said. "I will say those questions were alleviated almost immediately. We played in Vegas last game of the season. We came back here that Monday, we had player exit interviews and Travis popped into the office. We talked about a lot of stuff on the coaching staff, on the roster staff, but he basically said, 'I'm not going out like this. I'm gonna take a few weeks off here, but let's get in touch and let's plan on me being here.'
"So, even though the media kind of went through will he return or won't he return, I think internally we knew he was coming back right away. He's such a competitor. Him and Pat (Mahomes) have almost a brother-like relationship. It's not even a teammate relationship. I think there's an element of Travis wanting to see Pat through this rehab process."
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Kelce officially agreed to a contract in early March. Veach noted that knowing Kelce, who turns 37 in October, planned to return helped the club plan for free agency.
"So, we knew early on that he was coming back, which was very helpful and beneficial for us because we attacked our free agency plan, we already kind of put away and allocated for Travis," he said. "It helped free us up to be more decisive and carry through with our plan. Again, from my standpoint, I think, yeah, there were probably some questions in November, December, but right after the last game, 24 hours later after the last game of the season, I knew 100 percent that he'd be back."
Veach won't speculate on whether 2026 would be Kelce's final go-around, but after the Chiefs didn't add a tight end in the draft, he'll continue to be a pivot-point for K.C.'s offense for at least one more campaign.