Travis Kelce may have just hinted at whether he plans to return to Chiefs for 2026 season

After 13 NFL seasons, Travis Kelce still hasn't decided if he's going to come back for another year, but he may have offered a small hint about his future plans during the most recent episode of "The New Heights" Podcast, which he hosts with his brother, Jason. 

During this week's episode, Jason brought up the fact that Eric Bieniemy will be returning as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator. Bieniemy was originally hired by the Chiefs in 2013, which just happened to be Travis' rookie year in the NFL, so the two spent 10 years together before Bieniemy moved on in 2023 to take the Commanders' offensive coordinator job. 

After one year in Washington, Bieniemy moved on to the college ranks as the offensive coordinator for UCLA. In 2025, he returned to the NFL as the running backs coach for Ben Johnson in Chicago. Now, Bieniemy is returning to Kansas City and Travis definitely sounds excited. 

"I love that, shit. I think it's great," Kelce said on the podcast. 

And now, we get to the part where Kelce may have hinted at a possible return. The 11-time Pro Bowler mentioned that he's already excited at the thought of seeing Bieniemy back at the team facility.  

"I can't wait to see him back in the building," Kelce said. "He's one of my favorite coaches of all-time, one of my favorite people of all time. I've had so many unbelievable growing moments under him as a player, as a person, and I just love the guy and it's going to be awesome to see him back in the building and see him back wearing the Chiefs logo, baby."

If Kelce retires, then he won't be in the building anymore, so he wouldn't see Bieniemy there, but if he sticks around for one more season, then it would give him a chance to play one more year with one of his "favorite" coaches of all-time. On the podcast, Kelce certainly sounded excited about Bieniemy's return. 

Retirement speculation aside, Travis seems pretty confident that bringing Bieniemy back into the fold was a smart move for the Chiefs. 

"I think it's a marriage that's gonna pick up right where it left off," Travis said. "E.B. and who he is as a coach, you can see kind of his personality, what he brings to the table in that Chicago team. I know Ben Johnson has his own version of that, he's a very tough guy, and what he did in Detroit, he brought over as well. And you can see those running backs over in Chicago and their body of work was definitely an Eric Bieniemy style of football."

Although Kelce's future is still up in the air, he'll almost certainly be making his retirement decision before the start of free agency so that the Chiefs can make their offseason plans. Earlier this month, Travis made it sound like he wanted to see how his body feels before making a decision. 

"Right now it's just finding that answer and seeing how the body feels after this [final] game and kinda when it all settles down," Travis said at the end of the 2025 season. 

One of his teammates in Kansas City isn't buying any of the retirement speculation. Chris Jones thinks that Travis will definitely be returning to play at least one more season. 

"I'm not buying it, he'll be back next year," Jones said in early January. "I can't promise you anything about another man. This was a tricky year for us. I have faith in my dawg coming back."

Although Kelce is 36, he showed in 2025 that he still has some juice left in the tank, catching 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns, leading the Chiefs in all three of those categories. 

There are a lot of reasons why Travis would potentially want to return for one more year. For one, he likely won't want to end his career on a low note, which is what would happen if he calls it quits after a season where the Chiefs went just 6-11. The 2025 season marked just the second time in 13 seasons that Kelce has missed the playoffs. Also, you'd have to think that Patrick Mahomes would love to have Kelce back. The Chiefs quarterback tore his ACL in December and he's going to be motivated to return with a vengeance in 2026 and he's probably love to see Kelce on the field with him when that happens. 

Kelce actually has a lot to think about this offseason. Not only does he have to consider his football future, but he also has to start planning for the rest of his life. He's currently planning a wedding with his fiancée, Taylor Swift, and the two are expected to tie the knot in June, according to Page Six. If Kelce does return, the Chiefs start their offseason workouts in April, so he'd definitely be staying busy until the wedding rolls around.