Andy Reid Reveals What He Told Travis Kelce as the Chiefs Star Debated Retiring

• Andy Reid said Travis Kelce is “all in” for the next NFL season
• After the Chiefs lost the 2025 Super Bowl, the head coach told Kelce to take some time before he made a decision to retire or come back 
• Reid says the tight end is a “great teammate and a great human being”

Before Travis Kelce opted to return for his 13th season with the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid gave him some advice on the big decision.

Following the team’s devastating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at the 2025 Super Bowl, the head coach told the tight end to “get out of here.”

“We had a great visit before he left,” Reid, 66, told Camron Smith on the Saturday, March 8 episode of The Bettor Angle. 

“I always tell the guys to ‘Get out of here.’ ” he continued. “‘Get out and get your mind where it’s not one day after the Super Bowl. Get out there, and relax a little bit. And then let your mind calm down and think about it.’ ”

Reid and Kelce both have impressive careers with the Chiefs, and planned on making history with a three-peat by winning the championship game. Instead, the Chiefs lost to the Eagles by 18 points, which caused Kelce to weigh whether he’d retire or come back for one more season. After months of speculation, the 35-year-old football star confirmed to Pat McAfee that he was returning on Feb. 27. 

Reid says Kelce is fully committed to coming back, even though his age has become a talking point for some critics.

“He’s all in,” said Reid on the podcast. “He’s a heck of a player, I mean listen, he’s getting older, but you’re talking about the guy that’s going to go down as maybe the best of all time at that position.”

Reid said that even if Kelce is a bit slower, he’s still one of the greatest tight ends in the NFL. “In my eyes, he’s the best,” he said on the podcast. “And I guess that’s what counts.” 

On the Mar. 5 episode of Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce’s podcast New Heights, Travis addressed his decision to stay on the field. 

Jason, 37, who retired from the Eagles in 2024, asked Travis how much the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss factored into his decision. 

“It was probably the biggest factor,” Travis admitted, calling the defeat an "all-time low."

Despite the loss, Travis said it’s his love of the game that’s brought him back for another season. 

“The biggest thing is that I f----- love playing the game of football. I love playing,” he shared. “I still think I can play it at a high level, and possibly at a higher level than I did last year.” 

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Getting critical about his 2024-2025 season performance, Travis added, “I don’t think it was my best outing. I think I let my guys down in a lot more moments than I helped them, especially if you look at my track record and how I’ve been in years past."

"I got a bad taste in my mouth for how I ended the year and how well I was playing and how accountable I was for the people around me," he continued.

One of the things that Reid most respects about Travis is his commitment to his teammates, the head coach said on The Bettor Angle. 

“Whatever he does on the field, the greatness that he has there, he’s even that much better off the field,” said Reid. “I mean, he’s a great teammate and a great human being.”

No matter how the next season goes, Reid has faith in Travis. He even has ideas about what Travis’ post-NFL career could look like. 

“He’s one of those guys you’d say, ‘I’d love to have him on my staff when he’s done playing.’ ” Reid told Smith. “He’s going to be like you guys, where he’s in that media market or movie market and will make a killing there, too.”