Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs teammate, defensive tackle Chris Jones, doesn’t want to hear talk of retirement from his star tight end.
That’s because whenever Kelce goes, Jones is following him.
“He’s got like four or five more years, and what is he talking about, right?” Jones said on Wednesday, per ESPN. “We can’t let TK go. It’s like we retire, we’ve got to retire together. Give me at least six, four years, then we’ll talk about it.”
Jones’ years before they’re done playing football may be all over the place, but the general point is that he doesn’t want to even think about retirement right now.
Jones, 29, is much younger than the 34-year-old Kelce, but the Chiefs extended both of these key pieces to their dynasty this offseason.
Jones was given a five-year extension worth almost $160 million with $95 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid defensive tackle in the history of the NFL. Jones also noted that he has every intention to fulfill the entire length of his new deal.
As for Kelce, the four-time All-Pro and future Hall of Famer will be getting $17 million guaranteed this season after agreeing to a two-year, $34.25 million extension.
The Chiefs are focused on doing something no other team has: winning three straight Super Bowls. So, Jones doesn’t want to hear “the R word” at all.
Once you begin to think about things like that, you’re getting to feed the mind those types of thoughts,” Jones said. “I don’t even want my mind to even go that far to the R word.”
When Kelce was asked about retirement on Tuesday, he reassured reporters and everyone else listening that he still has a lot left to give the game he loves.
“I’m going to do it until the wheels fall off,” he said, per Fox 4 KC. “Hopefully, that doesn’t happen anytime soon. I can definitely understand that it’s toward the end of the road than the beginning of it. I just got to make sure I’m set up for after football as well.
“I really can’t put a time frame on it.”
Kelce added, “I love coming to work every single day” and still feels “that I’m a little kid when I come in this building.”
Kelce hasn’t shown a single sign of slowing down, posting 984 yards with five touchdowns on 93 catches during the regular season; that’s considered a down year by his standards. But he was money in the postseason, making 32 catches for 355 yards with three touchdowns in the Chiefs’ four playoff games, including nine receptions in the overtime Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Once Jones rejoined the Chiefs at the beginning of the season – he had a contract dispute with Kansas City, but they figured things out – he totaled 10.5 sacks, marking back-to-back seasons of double digits in that category. He had 30 combined tackles as well.
These two players have been essential pieces for head coach Andy Reid to deploy on game days, and he’s hoping to continue doing so as long as they’re on the roster.
