Travis Kelce Explains How Taylor Swift Inspired His NFL Retirement Decision

Look what Taylor Swift made Travis Kelce do. This week, Kelce confirmed he's returning for another season with the Kansas City Chiefs—and, on Monday, revealed his fiancée may have had something to do with his decision.

Kelce spoke out about the news (as well as his mother's meme-worthy home renovation) during an appearance Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show, after finally putting an end to speculation about his future in football. "Making another run at it, baby! The Chiefs are making moves," Kelce exclaimed at the the top of the show, after he and the Chiefs picked up Super Bowl wins together in 2020, 2023 and 2024.

McAfee then wondered whether Kelce seeing Swift "do her thing, and continuing to move and move and move and work" helped him at all during his decision process while pondering his future.

"Without a doubt," said Kelce, without hesitation.

"We share the same love for what we do, and we've had this...desire since we were kids in our selective professions," he continued. "It's amazing to see her keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies and, on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does. Of course, that's motivating."

"That's motivating for anybody to see, let alone my fiancée, knowing that I'm going through something where I'm trying to figure out exactly what the future holds for me," he told McAfee. "Something like that definitely motivates me to say, 'You know what, I'm not done either.'"

Kelce then said he's still "got some ideas in the back of my mind," adding, "I still got some juice to play this game."

Kelce's words about Swift echoed what she said about him during an interview with BBC Radio back in October.

"I love the person that I am with because he loves what I do and he loves how much I am fulfilled by making art and music," she said at the time. "That is the coolest thing about Travis he is so passionate about what he does that me being passionate about what I do it connects us. It just is the most fun thing in the world to be able support each other."

Kelce's Payday for Return

According to ESPN sources, Kelce signed a one-year contract with the team worth at least $12 million, with a max value of $15 million. He reportedly wanted to continue to play alongside quarterback Patrick Mahomes, defensive tackle Chris Jones, under coach Andy Reid.

"I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game, you know, and I think my best opportunity was playing for the Chiefs yet again and running this thing back with Pat Mahomes and Coach Reid," he told McAfee.

"And got my guy Eric Bieniemy, Coach Bieniemy back, and there's a lot of pieces in Kansas City that I just I absolutely love and I can't wait to get back in the building with."

He also admitted the conversation about whether or not he'd return was "pretty short and brief and the Chiefs knew where I was the entire time on it."